The Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) have demonstrated how public-private collaboration can transform plastic waste into an economic resource while tackling pollution in Nigeria
The Executive Director of FBRA, Agharese Onaghise, stated this at the closing ceremony of the 54-month UNIDO project, “Promoting Sustainable Plastic Value Chains through Circular Economy Practices,” held in Lagos
Onaghise said the partnership had resulted in the establishment of four pilot plastic collection facilities in Lagos, which would continue operating despite the formal completion of the project
She explained that FBRA and UNIDO jointly co-funded the pilot facilities as part of efforts to support Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) and recover plastic materials for reintegration into the production cycle
The Lagos facilities are located at Lakowe in Ibeju-Lekki, Okun Ajah along the coastal road, Igando and Ikorodu The Okun Ajah facility, operated by Polysmart Packaging Limited through its Switch Recycling operation, commenced operations in February 2026.
Presenting the Lagos experience, Polysmart’s Head of Supply Chain, Medinat Bakare, said the Okun Ajah facility was established through collaboration among FBRA, UNIDO and the Federal Ministry of Environment
She said community roadshows and awareness campaigns supported by FBRA and UNIDO helped address the initially low level of awareness about recycling and encouraged residents to participate in plastic collection
According to Bakare, the facility collected about 76 tonnes of plastic between February and August 2026, with the recovered materials transported to Polysmart’s main facility in Mowe for further processing
FBRA also supplied an 80-tonne baler to support operations, while private-sector partners provided land, personnel, operational management and community-based collection support
Bakare said the initiative had brought households, schools and community aggregators into the recycling chain, with the Switch App connecting households with collection agents
She said recovered plastics were being diverted from landfills and waterways and returned to production, thereby reducing dependence on virgin materials
However, she identified sustained access to equipment, school-based recycling education, incentives and training for collectors, registration of community suppliers and continuous capacity building as critical to sustaining and replicating the model
In Abuja, Chief Financial Officer of Chanja Datti, Kehinde Olusola, presented the Jabi pilot facility owned by the Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB)
Olusola said AEPB provided the land, while the facility was commissioned under the UNIDO/Government of Japan project, with Chanja Datti selected to manage its daily operations and support its construction
The facility integrates plastic sourcing, collection, sorting, processing and sales to off-takers, with households, waste pickers, aggregators and organisations supplying materials Tricycles provided through the UNIDO project are being used for community collection.
Olusola said the facility processed about nine tonnes of plastic between March and August 2026, created 11 direct green jobs and supported 35 women waste workers with personal protective equipment and identification
He added that the company paid about N259 million for materials collected at the site.
According to him, the model was helping to formalise informal waste picking by providing safer working conditions and a more structured income stream
Chanja Datti is also expanding beyond collection into manufacturing household products from recovered plastics, while a partnership with Food Concepts Nigeria Limited, the parent company of Chicken Republic, is expected to increase plastic supply to the Jabi facility
Speaking on the overall project, UNIDO Regional Director and Country Representative, Ambassador Philbert Johnson, said the initiative had produced three major outcomes: implementation guidelines for plastic waste management, stronger recycling and plastic value chains, and a circular-economy model based on innovation and technology
Johnson stressed that plastic pollution could not be tackled through collection and recycling alone, saying it required coordinated action on policy, institutional capacity, municipal services and private-sector participation
He said the next challenge was to sustain and scale the gains through local ownership and effective coordination, noting that the private sector had been the major driver of the initiative
Johnson also urged young Nigerians to explore recycling as a business opportunity, saying viable operations did not necessarily require huge machinery or capital
UNIDO Project Manager, Nahomi Nishio, said the project, which began in April 2022, had strengthened Nigeria’s plastic ecosystem through interventions at national, state and private-sector levels
She said the project produced and published implementation guidelines, strengthened five organisations through training and pilot interventions, trained informal waste pickers and supported companies adopting circular-economy and resource-efficient practices
Nishio added that an independent evaluation found the project well designed and aligned with national priorities, while highlighting the need to move from policy formulation to stronger implementation, enforcement, investment and development of higher-value markets for circular plastics
Representing the Minister of Environment, Malam Balarabe Lawal, Director of Pollution Control and Environmental Health Department, Omotunde Adeola, said the project had improved collection systems, provided infrastructure and equipment for small and medium-sized enterprises, created jobs and strengthened recycling activities in Lagos and Abuja
Lawal said the ministry was pursuing plastic recycling interventions in other parts of the country, but stressed that sustainability required cooperation between federal and state governments
He identified education, awareness, behavioural change, financing and source segregation as important requirements for developing a stronger circular economy
On EPR enforcement, he said the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) was working with Producer Responsibility Organisations, including FBRA, and manufacturers to ensure producers assume greater responsibility for plastic waste
Ambassador Hideo Suzuki of the Embassy of Japan said Japan had provided about $216 million to fund the UNIDO initiative since 2022.
He described the outcomes as tangible, citing policy tools, operating collection systems and businesses demonstrating recycling models
Suzuki urged stakeholders to sustain and expand the guidelines, equipment, technologies and partnerships developed under the programme beyond its formal completion
At the stakeholder session moderated by Onaghise, participants called for stronger financing mechanisms, including consideration of a circular-economy trust fund, amid declining international development funding
They also advocated fiscal incentives to make recycled materials more competitive with virgin materials, stressing that stronger domestic processing capacity would be necessary to maximise the economic value of Nigeria’s plastic waste