From waste to wealth: Parts Central expands nationwide waterway clean-up

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

Parts Central Limited is expanding its partnership with the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to tackle pollution across Nigeria’s waterways, with plans to extend its clean-up initiative beyond Lagos to other parts of the country while transforming recovered waste into economic opportunities.

The Managing Director of Parts Central Limited, Henry Olaoluwa Onifade, disclosed this in Lagos while interacting with maritime journalists during activities marking his birthday.

Onifade said the company’s vision goes beyond removing plastics, water hyacinth and other forms of marine litter from waterways, stressing that recovered materials would be processed and converted into useful products capable of generating jobs, businesses and other economic opportunities.

He described the initiative as a shift from the conventional approach to waste management, where refuse is collected and discarded, to a circular-economy model in which waste recovered from waterways becomes raw material for other industries.

“We don’t have waste anymore; waste is now wealth,” Onifade said.

According to him, biodegradable materials recovered during the clean-up could be processed for biofuels and other applications, while plastic waste would be sorted and processed for recycling.

He said Parts Central had spent considerable time examining technologies and equipment that could make the collection, sorting and processing of waterway waste more effective.

The company, he added, would also bring manufacturers and other stakeholders in the plastics and waste-management value chain into the initiative as it develops.

Onifade said the growing interest in cleaner waterways among government agencies, ministries, associations and other stakeholders showed that the initiative was responding to an important national environmental challenge.

He noted that the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) was also engaging stakeholders on measures to reduce plastic pollution in waterways.

“We are happy that we can even think of a possible pollution-free waterways and roll it out. Since we rolled it out, we’ve heard of different people, associations, organisations and states that are now talking about it, which is very good for us,” he said.

“Our goal is for us to have pollution-free waterways. By God’s grace, we will integrate everybody who has a very good and genuine mindset that pollution-free waterways is possible in Nigeria.”

Onifade said Parts Central was also developing a technology-driven database to support the nationwide clean-up programme.

He explained that the database would cover ports, jetties, landing sites, riverbanks, dockyards and other locations connected to Nigeria’s inland waterways.

The database, he said, would provide information on the volume and nature of waste generated at different locations, enabling the company and relevant government agencies to better determine where resources and waste-management infrastructure were needed.

Every jetty and landing site, according to him, would be assessed to establish whether adequate waste-management facilities were available.

Boats and other watercraft would also form part of the data-gathering process, he added.

“It’s not for us to have the data, because if you don’t have data of the people you want to cater for, you don’t know how to cater for them,” he said.

Onifade said the data-driven approach would help prevent the clean-up programme from becoming a series of isolated exercises, instead providing the basis for a coordinated and sustainable national waste-management system.

The Parts Central boss disclosed that the company was already preparing to take the initiative beyond Lagos, with Port Harcourt and Imo State among the locations being lined up for the next phase.

He said the company was currently putting structures in place to ensure that the expansion was properly coordinated and supported by reliable data.

The expansion, he explained, would form part of the company’s broader plan to develop a nationwide system for keeping Nigeria’s waterways clean while creating an economic value chain around recovered waste.

The initiative, being implemented in partnership with NIWA, is expected to bring together government agencies, communities, private-sector operators, manufacturers, boat operators and other stakeholders in addressing waterway pollution.

For Onifade, the ultimate objective is not simply to make Nigeria’s waterways cleaner but to make them economically productive.

He said the large volume of waste currently regarded as an environmental burden could become a source of raw materials, employment and enterprise if properly collected, sorted and processed.

“Our goal is for us to have pollution-free waterways,” he reiterated.

He urged Nigerians to embrace a new approach to environmental management in which pollution challenges are addressed alongside opportunities for innovation, investment and wealth creation.

“No more waste on the waterways; we will now have wealth on the waterways,” Onifade declared.