For years, inadequate waste management has plagued Nigeria, posing a severe threat to both the environment and public health. A 2020 ranking by the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy placed Nigeria among the 30 worst offenders globally. The country generates a staggering 32 million metric tons of waste annually, with a concerning 2.5 million tons being plastic alone.
The Nigerian government has joined forces with international partners in an effort to address the problem. In 2022, a US$2.8 million agreement was signed between the Federal Ministry of Environment, the Japanese Embassy in Nigeria, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to support the development of a sustainable plastic waste management system.
Despite these efforts, a significant gap remains. Many Nigerian households lack access to formal waste collection services, forcing them to resort to harmful disposal methods. These practices, such as dumping waste in waterways or burning it, contribute significantly to water pollution, climate change, and disease outbreaks.
Interventions for waste management
To address poor waste management in Nigerian households, Ecobarter, a social enterprise, began collecting waste from households in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states, transforming those waste into new valuable resources.
Founded by Rita Idehai in 2018, the organisation’s vision and mission is to bring sustainability to all people and planet and transform how households consume and manage waste from now till 2020 respectively.
Ecobarter collects waste such as plastic bottles, cartons, aluminium cans, electronics, metals, nylon bags, pure water sachets, old books and newspapers, sorts and sell them to companies that use such waste as raw materials.
“We are taking waste away from the environment, we are keeping the environment clean, that means we are improving public health and we are creating jobs,” she said.
“We are also making sure the environment is clean while improving the beauty and the value of properties. So that’s another economic advantage for proper waste management.”
From trash to cash
Apart from keeping the environment clean and improving public health, Ecobarter’s model also creates wealth for individuals by giving back points and money in exchange for waste.
“We have integrated platforms, the digital side and the offline side where people request for pickup of their waste at their convenience,” she told the News Agency of Nigeria.
“We collect this waste and in return for giving us their waste we give them points which they get to redeem as cash into their bank accounts.
“They can use it to shop with different partners and services on our marketplace or even donate to different charity organizations that we work with.”
She explained that points are awarded based on the weight of waste retrieved, adding that 30 plastic bottles weigh 1kg which is equivalent to one Ecobarter point. One Ecobarter point is worth N20.
Ecobarter beneficiaries
Rebecca Bulus is a full-time cleaner who learned about waste collection when she realised the extent to which the littered waste in her community was making.
She said she started picking up bottles and other recyclable in her neighbourhood, adding that she had collected 200kg of waste and has earned more than N10,000 from Ecobarter.
“I mostly use the money I get to buy food ingredients to cook for my children,” she said.
“But there was a time when my child was ill and we had to buy some drugs at the pharmacy. I didn’t have much on me because I have not received my salary yet.
“I only had the money i saved from collecting the bottles and that was what I used to pay for the drugs,” she said.
Similarly, Mrs Lucy, a pharmacist, said she usually plants flowers in used plastic bottles but the bottles piled up overtime occupying space in her home.
The situation changed when he learned about Ecobarter as they came to pick up her waste in exchange for points which metamorphosed to cash.
“I checked my app and I had like 500 recycling points, I was like wow that’s a lot,” she said.
“I decided to try to exchange it with cash just to see if I would get the money; so I filled in my request on the app and forget about it.
“It was on the next day that I got the credit alert, and I was like, where is this coming from? then I saw that it was from Ecobarter.”
Challenges
Idehia said a challenge they face is low level of awareness on how poor waste management practices impact not just the environment but even public health.
She said the organisation spent a lot in terms of energy, time and money to educate people on proper waste management and its importance.
Another challenge is the lack of existing infrastructure where people would take waste to or get efficient waste collectors that would come their doorstep to pick up waste.
“So we are having to also invest a lot in building collection centres installing hubs and creating collection route and all of that, and for all of this we would be needing way more funds,” she said.
“And you know because we are in Africa, we are female led there’s also disadvantage to investment.”
The organization makes money selling wastes to companies that use them as raw materials.
It also receives grant funding from different development agencies such as the US Mission Nigeria, the Roddenberry Foundation, Coca cola Foundation, among others.
Source: Aisha Gambo/NAN
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