The Lagos State Government is deepening investment in waste management with deployment of 220 newly acquired compactor trucks to fast-tract evacuation and strengthen operations of Private Sector Participants (PSP).
Obafemi Hamzat, the deputy governor, disclosed this on Saturday during the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Festac, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area.
Hamzat, who is also the Lagos State governorship candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming 2027 general election, said the additional trucks would supplement the capacity of the PSP operators and help address growing gaps in household waste collection across the state.
“The state government will be bringing in another 220 trucks to make sure that we supplement our PSP,” he said.
The investment comes as Lagos faces rising waste volumes driven by population growth, rapid urbanisation and increasing commercial activity.
For the state, the expansion of collection capacity is also expected to strengthen the waste-management value chain, where PSP operators, waste processors, recycling companies and other private-sector businesses provide services across collection, transportation, recovery and disposal.
He, however, urged residents to patronise accredited PSP operators rather than informal cart pushers, arguing that the activities of unregulated operators could undermine the efficiency of the formal waste-management system.
“What we need our people to also do is to make sure that they patronise their PSP, not the cart pushers, because they are not organised. You don’t know where the waste is ending up,” he said.
He said government investment in trucks and other infrastructure would have limited impact without corresponding behavioural changes by residents, particularly in the areas of waste disposal and payment for collection services.
The deputy governor warned against dumping refuse in canals and drainage channels, noting that blocked waterways could worsen flooding and impose additional costs on government and businesses through damage to infrastructure and disruption of economic activities.
Meanwhile, Tokunbo Wahab, Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, said the state was recording improvements in waste evacuation following the deployment of 24-hour emergency response teams and interventions at landfills and dumpsites.
Wahab said the government was also engaging PSP operators to improve their operational efficiency and close gaps in household waste collection.
According to him, the state has intervened in areas where the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) would ordinarily not operate, reflecting the government’s effort to ensure that service gaps do not disrupt waste evacuation.
The commissioner said PSP operators were being supported to strengthen their operations, while residents were expected to pay for waste collection under the polluter-pays principle.
The model, he said, is designed to create a more sustainable commercial relationship in which residents pay for waste services while operators have the resources required to provide reliable collection.
Beyond collection and disposal, Wahab said Lagos was also repositioning its waste-management sector from the traditional “collect and dump” model to a circular economy system focused on recovering value from waste.
He disclosed that the transition had led to the development of material recovery facilities in Badagry and Epe, as well as transfer stations at Solus and Olusosun.
The shift could create greater opportunities for businesses involved in recycling, waste recovery, materials processing, waste-to-energy projects and other forms of resource recovery.
Wahab said the government was also engaging cart pushers but would not adopt policies that could create additional environmental or security risks.
He said investigations had shown that some cart pushers dispose of collected waste indiscriminately, including in drainage channels and road medians, contributing to environmental degradation and increasing flood risks.
The government’s emerging strategy therefore seeks to create a more organised waste-management ecosystem in which government agencies provide regulation and infrastructure, PSP operators deliver collection services, residents pay for services and businesses increasingly participate in waste recovery and recycling.
Bode Agoro, the state Head of Service, who monitored the sanitation exercise in Bariga LCDA, also called on residents to take greater responsibility for maintaining clean communities.
The government said sustained cooperation among residents, waste operators and public agencies would be critical to ensuring that increased investment in waste-management infrastructure translates into better service delivery and a cleaner, more sustainable Lagos.
This version gives the story a stronger business/economy angle by making waste management a service-delivery and investment story, while highlighting the PSP model, operating capacity, polluter-pays principle, circular economy and opportunities for private-sector participation.
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