The Lagos State Government, on Thursday, reiterated its ban on styrofoam food packs and others in the state, stating that it would deploy its officers to mop up the products in supermarkets across the state.
The Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, stated this at a meeting in Alausa, Ikeja with environmental health officers.
Wahab, according to a statement by the spokesman for the ministry, Olakunle Rotimi-Akodu, called on environmental health officers from across the 57 local government and local council development areas to work with the ministry.
The commissioner said, “This meeting became necessary in order to ramp up enforcement of the ban and distribution of styrofoam food packs and trays across the state. The pronouncement on the ban of styrofoam was made over three years, but the law was never enforced until now.
“The ministry is set to rejig the operation of all environmental health officers across the local government areas to effectively enforce the law. Officers will be deployed to supermarkets, retailers, and wholesalers to mop up empty styrofoam food containers and trays in stock for onward transmission to the shredding site at Oshodi.”
Wahab said styrofoam constituted a menace to Lagos, being a coastal state, “and as such, it is prone to flooding.”
“Global warming is real and every government needs to put measures in place to mitigate its effects on the environment.
“Now is the time to save the environment from the menace of styrofoam by coming up with substitutes for styrofoam takeaway packs and trays, as this particular product in question is highly hazardous to health.”
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