Every year, Nigeria generates an estimated 42 million tons of solid waste, more than half of 62 million tonnes of waste generated in sub-Saharan Africa. This 42 million tons of waste includes 10 million discarded tyres.
Throwing away your used tyres or flinging them in dumpsites looks very casual and insignificant until you realise that they pose a serious risk to the planet and the lives of everyone who lives in it, especially as they consume valued space in landfills. Burning up these tyres seems like the second-best option, but their fumes produce acid smoke and toxins that are equally harmful to humans.
For a country that produces over 10 million discarded tyres annually, we have only one option left: recycle these tyres and make them available for human use. This is what Ifedolapo Runsewe is doing with Freetown Waste Management Company.
Years ago, Ifedolapo Runsewe was driving past the Olusosun landfill in Lagos when she discovered that the tyres being burned there released toxic fumes into the air, made “the whole environment unbearable,” and posed a danger to the environment. It struck her that if we were to save our planet and mitigate the effects of climate change, we needed to find a way to solve poor waste management in our country. She asked herself, “what can we possibly do with tyres?” The answer to this was the beginning of her journey in the recycle business, and in 2018, she incorporated Freetown Waste Management Recycle Limited.
Freetown Waste was created with a goal to recycle 15 million tyres annually into reusable, useful products for everyday life. So far, this social enterprise has effectively and efficiently utilised recycled tyres to develop durable, sustainable, eco-friendly, valuable, rubber-moulded products like mats, flooring rolls, anti-slip pads, mouse pads, and many more. They have recycled over 80,000 tyres into various rubber products in different colours.
Beyond solving poor waste management issues in the country, Ifedolapo Runsewe is reducing carbon emissions, tackling the spread of malaria in our environment, aiding responsible consumption and production, fostering sustainable cities and communities, and reducing unemployment in Nigeria. So far, Freetown Waste has employed over 105 full-time staff, with more than 200 agents and indirect staff. Above all, Ifedolapo is saving our planet and creating a healthy world for us all.
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