The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, NESREA, has threatened to revoke the operational licenses of recycling facilities who refuse to comply with agreed protocol for remediation of Ogijo Community in Ogun State.
The Director General of the agency, Prof. Innocent Barikor gave the warning during a meeting with recyclers whose facilities were sealed in a recent clampdown on recalcitrant facilities in the Southwest Zone of the country.
Nine facilities operating in the battery recycling sector in Ogijo were sealed for causing environmental pollution in the community through poor slag management, manual battery breaking, uncontrolled lead dust emissions, lack of workers’ health surveillance among others.
Barikor stated that “the enforcement action was taken as a necessary first step to safeguard lives and restore environmental integrity. Facilities will remain sealed until verifiable corrective actions are taken.”
He told the recyclers that the administration of President Bola Tinubu remains committed to ensuring that Nigerians live in a healthy environment, warning that time was running out for errant facilities.
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He said: “What we have at present is anarchic and not sustainable. This is your opportunity to reset, to demonstrate responsibility and to bring your facilities into full compliance. NESREA has shown patience in the past, but that window is closing.”
On the next steps, he said, “the issue of slag evacuation is an emergency and polluter pays, therefore the operators must bear the cost of removal. You are to sign an undertaken assenting to the agreed compliance protocol, process necessary documents and register with the Producer Responsibility Organization, PRO, for the sector.”
Barikor further directed that the operators commit to addressing facility specific environmental/ operational concerns, observe the penalties for indiscriminate dumping and non-compliance and take steps towards adopting cleaner technologies.
In his intervention the Director, Hazardous Materials Management and Environmental Safety for Ogun State Environmental Protection Agency, OGEPA, Lawal Babatunde accused the facilities of failing to abide by guidelines set out by the State Government for the evacuation of slag from the community.
Present at the meeting were the Executive Secretary of the Alliance for Responsible Battery Recycling, ARBR, Mrs. Miranda Amachree and operators of facilities in the battery and base metal recycling sectors.
The Conclave
