The president, Humanity Nigeria, Mr. Femi George has tasked Nigerians to lead in environmental protection to protect the planet for future generations.

George led the call at an event to mark the Guinness World Record attempt for the highest bottle waste collected by a team in Lagos. The exercise took place in locations such as Ikorodu South, Ikorodu North, Eti-Osa, Agege, Ajeromi Ifelodun, Mushin and Shomolu.

Speaking with The Guardian, he explained that in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which promote a healthy world and sustainable future for all, Recyclan Global Services Limited and Humanity Nigeria in partnership with the Lagos State Ministry of the Environment embarked on 30-days recovering and recycling of 400 metric tons of plastic bottle wastes across the state.

“We went to nine local governments and removed plastic wastes from canals, dumpsites and different areas where they have an accumulation of plastic wastes and we gathered all for recycling. We dedicated seven days out of the 30 days for a world record attempt. We are hoping to break the world record of 39.644 tons set by India as well as set a new one.’’

George, who is also the Creative Director, Guinness World Record attempt for the highest bottle waste collected by a team for recycling, said the 30 days in an environmental month was dedicated to environmental sanitation in Lagos State.

He said, “The essence is to set Nigeria apart as an environmentally friendly nation. We want Nigeria to become a front-runner in environmental exercise. Every nation needs to contribute its quota to the safe the Earth project of the United Nations (UN). One can imagine how disruptive it will be if the plastic wastes we removed across the nine local governments are left to clog the drainages.”

George appealed to corporate and community-based bodies, government and non-governmental organisations to volunteer in saving the earth.

“The culture of volunteerism in Nigeria is very low, especially among young people. We have to pay street urchins to allow us to clean the environment and some of our plastics were stolen, while others were set on fire, so we hope the government will address the issue of Area Boys and rehabilitate them.”

On his part, representative of Recyclan, Nduka Osubor said: “We cannot overemphasise the environmental challenges and danger plastic bottles pose to environmental sustainability and our corporate existence. So, such efforts in extracting materials that cause a lot of harm and degradation are quite noble so, we partner with other bodies to have this attempt.”

Osubor said: “The public must understand the dangers of these wastes on marine lives. Plastics are not degradable when burnt and they find their ways into the soil and they affect lives and the environment.”