Nigerians Fighting Climate Change Through Plastic Recycling

Saminu Aminu, 40, surpervisor of one of the plastic waste Recycling hubs ‘Cash 4 Trash” in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital is happy that PET bottles are now being returned to the hub for a reward while his outfit sends the plastic waste for recycling.

 “In a day, more than 10 people bring single-use plastic. In exchange we give them cash. We scale it and pay per kilo which is N30,” Aminu said. His recycling hub also liaises with residential apartments, banks, hotels and clubs by going around with trucks to collect their plastic bottles.

His Recycling hub is one of the many springing up in Abuja to address the problem of plastic waste which is currently a serious problem.

Plastic pollution has become one of the world’s biggest concerns today. In a report, the Centre for International Environmental Law says plastic is among the most significant and a rapidly growing source of industrial greenhouse gas emissions.

Nigeria currently has no standard policy to regulate plastic waste; several efforts including legislations and contracts awarded for the installation of plastic waste recycling plants across the country have been marred by corruption and lack of political will by the government.

More hands are joining forces against plastic waste in Abuja. Though their impacts are yet to be felt on a large scale. An outfit, W.A.S.T.E Africa is already in partnership with Coca-Cola Foundation to fight climate change through plastic waste recycling in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Aminu, like many who have taken to the business of plastic waste, are doing a yeoman’s job, though not many value their contribution to saving the environment and nature.

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), approximately 7 billion of the 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic produced between 1950 and 2017 became plastic waste, ending up in landfills or dumped.

The UN programme says “ plastic pollution can alter habitats and natural processes, reducing ecosystems’ ability to adapt to climate change, directly affecting millions of people’s livelihoods, food production capabilities and social wellbeing.”

In Nigeria, plastic waste ends up in waterways, gutters, canals, landfills and in most cases in streams and rivers. There is no data to support how much plastic waste has been taken away from these places to different recycling centres. Scavengers, and unemployed women who look for plastic waste have continued to keep the supply chain alive for recyclers.

A report by the National Library of Medicine indicates that plastics wastes are hardly recycled in Nigeria with less than 12 per cent being recycled and about 80 per cent of these wastes end up in landfills and dump sites.

But scavengers who are picking up plastic waste from all over the places including landfills and dump sites are making ends meet apart from helping to get rid of plastic waste.

Idi Abdulrahaman and his friends collect household waste known locally among Hausa speaking Nigerians as “Boola” from different houses within the Dutse axis of Abuja. Inside their carts are waste tied up in nylons and a sack of plastic bottles separated from kitchen waste. Idi gets paid from N50 to N100 depending on the size of the waste collected from houses and also picks plastic and other kinds of waste.

He separates recyclable waste from non-recyclable trash he had collected, taking it to the dumpsite at a place known among locals as Police signboard to be burnt later before taking the sack of plastic waste to the recyclers, where it is measured on the scale per kilogram which is N70. “It is a lucrative business. I make N1,500-N2,000 a day and close to N30,000 a month from the business, ” Idi said.

Scientists say plastic waste is known to contain carbon and hydrogen. They say those compounds mix with chloride often found in food waste and when they are set on fire, the mixture releases a gas that is harmful to humans.

Emissions from plastic emerge not only from the production and manufacture of plastic itself, but from every stage in the plastic lifecycle-from the extraction and transport of the fossil fuels that are the primary feedstock for plastic, to refining and manufacturing to waste management, to the plastic that enters the environment, according to UNEP report

Plastic waste, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says contains dioxin- a chemical substance that causes cancer. “Dioxins are highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer,” WHO says in a report titled Dioxins and their effects on human health.

In a 2018 report by the World Economic Forum, Nigeria was reported to have generated some 32 million tonnes of waste per year, including about 200,000 tonnes of plastic waste. Different countries through the Nationally Determined Contributions or NDCs had pledged to commit to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions in accordance with the Paris Agreement to maintain global temperature of 1.5°C by 2030, which is “still on a life support” to save lives and livelihood from doom. But not much seems to have been achieved.

The high demand for packaging-related plastics which has a short in-use phase has taken over the municipal and other satellite areas resulting in the mismanagement of waste in the FCT.

 Also the urban litter, mismanaged waste contained at open dumps are carried via wind and runoff, ends up blocking drains and leading to local flooding and ocean litters.

This is already turning to a fortune for those who dared to challenge the plastic waste menace.

Launched in August, 2020, the Cash 4 Trash initiative by W.A.S.T.E. AFRICA in partnership with the Coca-Cola Foundation, sets up collection hubs across different communities in Abuja to help reduce plastic waste and create job opportunities for many.

Mrs Olufunto Boroffice, the Founder/CEO of Chanja Datti Ltd, one of Nigeria’s leading waste collection and recycling social enterprises and the first in Abuja, says her outfit seeks to build strategic partnerships for collection and procurement of Nigeria’s recyclable materials both locally and internationally.

Boroffice is also the convener of the Initiative for the Advancement of Waste Management in Africa (WASTE Africa.org), an NGO that seeks to provide innovative solutions and strong advocacy for a sustainable ecosystem of solid waste management by engaging government, commercial and residential stakeholders in Nigeria and the African continent.

 The Cash for Trash Initiative, according to her is a community-led income-generating project that encourages people to recycle their waste by bringing recycling hubs closer to residents of Abuja where they can exchange their waste (PET bottles) for cash and they are in partnership with other agencies to reduce plastic waste in Abuja.

“We partnered with the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) and the Satellite Town Development Department (STDD) to establish recycling hubs in satellite areas without access to waste disposal services, ” she said.

According to her, members of the host communities have been receptive to the initiative and there is an increasing number of people who are making use of the hubs and other communities are eager to have such an initiative in place for them.

“We also get calls from residents of communities we are yet to reach asking for our services and when they could possibly get one of our hubs. We are seeking funding to expand our coverage areas.”

With the sponsorship of the Coca-Cola Foundation, Embassy of Switzerland, the British High Commission and UNDP, W.A.S.T.E.Africa has established 12 recycling hubs in 11 communities in the FCT.

Through the initiative, the  NGO has conducted awareness outreaches regarding climate change, proper waste disposal and management, recycling through the company radio advocacy program called “Your Waste, Your Right’”.

It has also carried out sensitization and engagement programs in 12 communities to educate residents on the importance of proper waste disposal especially PET bottles and management and how recycling can be beneficial to them and the environment.

Mrs Yetunde Bankole also established The Loyar Global Recyclers Collection Center to encourage recycling and to address the indiscriminate disposal of plastic waste which gives a gift for trash to encourage and promote a cleaner environment through plastic waste collection and recycling.

“We provide incentives in the form of foodstuffs to residents when they hit a particular point. We record their points down, when it accumulates (200 points=200kg), we give them incentives in the form of foodstuffs,” Bankole said.

The Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB), in ensuring residents are disposing of their plastic waste properly. Engr. Sherifat Lawal, the Head of Unit Resource Recovery said the agency is trying to educate the residents about PET bottles and other plastic waste and how they can reuse, reduce and recycle so that the plastic waste is disposed properly.

“But since the government cannot give incentives like the private recyclers, we are collaborating with some private recyclers so that they can help us fight this plastic waste management issue so that people will know how to manage their plastic waste,” Lawal said.

The agency is in a partnership with Chanja-Datti, Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and other corporate bodies to encourage people to separate their waste.

“The government and its agencies have laws and regulations on waste disposal but residents are not adhering to them, people are not complying with the laws.We do not want to arrest someone and it becomes another thing, we will just stick to creating awareness on the advantages and disadvantages of plastic waste disposal.”

It is obvious that more needs to be done towards sensitizing people from both local and urban communities as well as the need to have effective recycling stations across all communities.

—-This writer, Okedi Sylvia is a fresh graduate based in Abuja.

Disclaimer: This article is entirely the opinion of the writer and does not represent the views of The Whistler.