Vulnerable people earn cash for trash in Nigeria

In northern Nigeria, people from economically and socially disadvantaged groups are improving their lives collecting trash, which is in turn helping to tackle one of the fastest growing pollutants in the world, and most significant drivers of climate change. 

Sustainable waste management infrastructure is a significant issue common to many developing countries. In Nigeria, an estimated 32 million tons of solid waste is generated every year – one of the highest totals in Africa. 2.5 million tonnes of this figure is made up of plastics, which presents manifold challenges for people and the planet. 

In a country where 100 million people are extremely poor and lack basic needs, awareness about the connection between recycling and the causes and effects of climate change is limited. Recycling rates across Nigeria are low, meaning most plastic waste is not recycled and simply ends up in landfills or is discarded indiscriminately in other areas, often very close to housing. As a result, soil and water is often contaminated, with the possible entry of micro fragments into the food chain. As with other pollutants, this contamination is not confined to national borders, and Nigeria ranks as one of the world’s highest polluters of plastic waste into the ocean. 

Possibly most alarmingly of all, heat and sunlight cause plastic to release powerful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It is currently estimated that the production and incineration of plastic emits more than 850 million tonnes of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere – a figure that could rise to 2.8 billion tonnes by 2050.

Kenya-based social enterprise eTrash2Cash’s vision is to create zero-wastes societies that are healthy, educated, informed and sustainable, as explains Managing Director Mohammed Salisu Abdullahi: “The aim of our partnership is to people who are vulnerable, people who could not access basic services, such as healthcare and education through helping them to earn cash from their trash.”

Central to eTrash2Cash’s invention – ‘Education/awareness creation at the grassroots on sustainable environment/climate change’ – has been the establishment of a series of waste collection centers in local communities known as ‘Trash Banks’. In these centers, economically disadvantaged and vulnerable people can earn cash incentives by depositing trash, which is then recycled into reusable raw materials. The local communities then use the money earned for food and healthcare and other necessities. 

eTrash2Cash operates 32 different local wastes collection centers across different local communities in northern part of Nigeria, with people from low-income groups earning an additional $8 monthly from collecting trash. The Trash Banks currently support more than 20,000 people, with the aim being to increase this figure to supporting 100,000 low-income people by 2025.  

Ummi, a 37-year-old widow, and mother of 2 children, used to be a smallholder farmer, but intense droughts forced her, and many other people from her community into poverty, forced to try and live on under $1 a day. “I am a poor woman. My kids and I struggle to find what to put in our stomach daily. Insecurity and drought have forced us out of our farming activities, cattle rearing and farming. But I am now happy that I can exchange trash for some cash through the initiative and complement my income, which helps me to access healthcare services for free, I could not imagine waste exchanged for cash in my life until now. I am happy I can live better than I used to, and I can save income in the future to start another micro-enterprise.” 

A key element of the project is about building awareness at the grassroots in local communities about climate change and environmental issues, and how they can act to create a more sustainable world. Through a combination of media activity and face-to-face campaigns, eTrash2Cash estimates to have already informed over 3 million people about the multiple environmental, social and economic benefits of recycling. 

This outreach work goes beyond climate sensitization alone, says Salisu Abdullahi: “We advertised through traditional media and through our local networks that we are needing vulnerable people; people in the society, low-income people to come and get trained on waste management and social micro entrepreneurship. Part of that criteria we set aside was that five percent of those people would have to be people with a disability. So through our own networks and through the media we advertised that and we incorporated the people with disabilities.”  

The social enterprise involved communities from the beginning of every intervention, including 50/50 female/male representatives from the local community, traditional rulers – who have significant influence within the community, and government stakeholders. In terms of funding, the traditional ruler and the community representatives together provide oversight to the accounts officer and ensure that all funds are utilized as agreed.

To date the model of exchanging waste for cash has been replicated in a number of other locations by entrepreneurs and environmentalists including Recycle Points and We Cyclers, both based in Lagos, Nigeria.