The Edo State Government has said it is recording remarkable progress with the deployment of its newly launched smart waste management technology, e-TRASH, extending the novel initiative to other communities in the state following the success recorded in the pilot phase.
The e-TRASH plastic and aluminum waste redemption scheme is a brainchild of the Edo State Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (Edo-NEWMAP) to curtail the indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste into stormwater infrastructure and natural moats, among others.
The e-TRASH technology eliminated over 400 kilograms of plastic waste clogging drainages in its first week of deployment to communities across the state.
Project Coordinator of Edo NEWMAP, Dr. Tom Obaseki at a one-day training for members of the project Community Interest Groups (C.I.Gs) on waste management said the state government’s commitment to mitigating the adverse effect of waste materials threatening to render drainages and such similar flood infrastructure ineffective informed the development of the initiative.
The Edo NEWMAP also sensitized waste managers in Gapiona, Iguosa, Ogiso, Queen Ede and Urora flood erosion catchment areas in Benin City on the novel waste management redemption scheme, e-trash, as part of efforts to extend the scheme to more communities in the state.
Obaseki said the e-TRASH which stands for Electronic Transaction in Waste Resources for all Users and Household, was developed in collaboration with some relevant MDAs and various sponsors for waste compliance, adding, “This is aimed at assisting in the reduction of plastic and aluminum wastes that ends up deposited and clogging drains and other infrastructure.”
He further noted, “This workshop was convened to encourage residents who are users of these waste products to embrace their redemption and recycling instead of indiscriminately disposing them into drains, which in turn, ends up rendering the state flood infrastructure useless during yearly rainfall.”
The Project Coordinator described the app as a user-friendly electronic device that enables uninterrupted payments within the value chain, noting, “A recycle bank allows participants to receive payments for plastics and aluminum wastes redeemed at designated redemption centres, besides rewards at every accumulation point level reached on every transaction completed.”
He said following the positive feedback from the pilot phase of the project deployment, “participants are expected to intensify efforts at sensitizing more residents other than those of the immediate community where the project has intervened so as to be able to reach out to residents of flood feeder communities generating and bringing wastes through floods into drains.”
