Kaduna- An environmentalist, Mr Shehu Liman, has called on the Kaduna State Government to provide special recycling plants for electronic scrap materials to protect the environment.
Liman, who is the Chief Executive Officer, Aique Environmental Management, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Sturday.
He described electronic waste as “dangerous and harmful to human beings”.
He said the recycling plants could sort wastes into usable and non-usable components.
Liman suggested that “as an alternative to the expensive recycling plants, landfills may be excavated at special locations to dispose the wastes”.
However, he warned that when buried, certain poisonous chemical components of electronic wastes could pass to the groundwater, pollute the soil and cause health problems.
According to him, a number of technicians scavenge on scrap electronics, such as television and radio sets, computer monitors, system units, among others.
“They enter into the trade for socioeconomic reasons and as such, they see waste as a resource because they only collect electronic materials for which there is market.
“The business has faced problems of informality and vulnerability to diseases, hence the need for government’s to assistance to make it attractive,” he said.