Converting plastic waste to wealth

By Jill Okeke

Driving from Egbeda/Isheri Road, down Igando/Ikotun Road, in Alimosho Local Government Area(LGA), I kept looking cautiously to the road sides to see when I would get to the infamous Igando dumpsite, unarguably, one of the biggest dumpsites in Lagos State.

But I needed not have worried because in no time, I started perceiving a very offensive putrid smell, a clear testimony that I was approaching the dump. The further I drove, the stronger the smell, until I sighted the mini dump site on my right, and then the mountain of waste on my left – the other side of the road.

Parked along the road by the dumpsite and constituting serious menace on their own, were several Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) waste collection vehicles; many of them still loaded with waste and awaiting their turn to tip their content. Some of the trucks already relieved of their content had their drivers chatting away idly. Unbranded trucks, ready to convey buyers to their destinations, could also be seen.

Despite the huge rubbish and its accompanying smell, the place was a beehive of activities. A building housing the State Ministry of Special Duties had already been blocked by waste and activities of stakeholders at the dump.

“People are making millions, building houses from here. You see dirt and waste here, but those of us in this business only see money,” said an elated Kelly, one of the Agents.

Bales of clothes, picked from the dumpsite, cleaned and dried, were neatly stacked by the sides. Several bags of plastics, cans, card boards, newspapers and other papers could also be seen, neatly packed, awaiting buyers.  Several heaps of aluminum materials of various types and other things, discarded, were all waiting buyers. Because it rained the previous day, wet paper, card boards and wet clothing were left in the sun to dry.

Picking my steps carefully, I walked through the tarred patch onto the top of the dump site, where I saw about 20 men rummaging through the waste, scavenging for plastics, clothes, paper, aluminum and other metals. Oblivious of my presence, they kept rummaging through the dirt, separating items they fancied into big sacks and dragging them as they moved from one end of the dump site to another.

Soon, Abu, as he later introduced himself, looked up and saw me watching them intensely. Speaking loudly, so that his colleagues could hear him, he asked in very bad English  if I was an Agent or a new buyer.

Alerted, his colleagues straightened up and all eyes turned on me. Smiling broadly, I greeted them in broken English, introduced myself as a journalist and told them my mission. With relief on their faces, all but Abu turned back to their task and totally ignored me.

Beckoning on another colleague, whose name I later learnt to be Lawal, and who appeared the most enlightened, Abu, with him, drew closer to me. From them, I gathered that they pay N200 each to the management of the dumpsite before they are allowed to scavenge. Some of them are contracted by dealers they refer to as ‘Bola Collectors,’ who pay them weekly. Apart from dump sites, they harvest plastics along the streets, streams and gutters, especially after a heavy downpour. Some of the scavengers make as much as N50,000 monthly, they claimed, depending on how swiftly they can work.

The scavengers or sorters are mostly of Northern Nigeria origin, with the agents and middle men mostly Igbos, while the buyers come from different ethnic backgrounds. Even though I introduced myself, some of the agents were still hostile and suspicious of me, insisting I had to pay money, register as an agent before I would be introduced into the business.

However, Julius Chukwura, one of the established agents who said he has been in the business for over 20 years, said a kilo of plastics sell for between N160 to N200. “It used to sell for N120 before COVID-19 but now materials are scarce, as social activities has reduced and people no longer generate waste as much.”

According to him, these agents register with various recycling companies and manufacturers. “I sell paper to companies manufacturing toilet rolls, plastic, cans and aluminum to recycling companies; but business has been dull since the outbreak of COVID-19’’.

It is reported that about 65 million metric tonnes of waste is generated annually in Nigeria while about 150,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste enter the ocean in the country every day. According to experts, of the 65million metric tonnes of waste, Lagos State alone, which is the undisputable commercial capital of the country and most populated, produces about 10,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste, most of which end up in landfills and waterways.

Due to this very disturbing and unhealthy development, experts say wildlife and the ecosystems are undergoing incalculable destruction worldwide.

This, however, may be a thing of the past soon, as many people are realising that used discarded plastics can be turned into money. According to Professor Ejike Odogwu of the Petrol Chemical Department, University of Port Harcourt, “Many countries are already converting used plastics into gas fuel that can be used to produce electricity or turned into liquid fuels and even raw materials for [chemicals] for manufacturing, for example, chemical feed stocks, wares, and lubricants.”

Explaining further in a Zoom conference interview, Professor Odogwu said numerous companies abroad use a process called pyrolysis to thermally decompose and then convert non-recycled plastics into petroleum products that can be refined into fuel for automobiles and other purposes.

Investigations reveal that currently, fabric made from PET bottles are making waves in the fashion industry abroad, especially amongst famous brands in the sports fashion like Nike, Hoffman, Patagonia, Quicksilver that use high performing and sustainable material in their athletic wears.

“Though it sounds pretty unbelievable that a hard drinking container can turn into soft fabric, it is actually a relatively simple process and it’s used in our clothing industry. Now clothing made from recycled plastic bottles is trendy, if not mainstream,” said a spokes person for Nike.

During New York Fashion Week recently, Hoffman, Nike alongside other big brands that use Repreve, a fibre made from upcycled plastic bottles, set up a demonstration room where visitors could see how plastic bottles are turned into textiles and what those textiles can become.

First the bottles are broken down into small flakes; those flakes are then melted down into tiny pellets; and then the pellets or chips are melted again and filtered and spun into threads through a process that resembles water flowing through a shower head.

Depending on how the threads are treated, they can be used for a range of textiles – from swimwear to denim to car seats. They can also be used for shoes.

Lending credence to the above, 31-year-old Felabuyi Akunse, founder of the upcoming brand, ‘Salubata Shoes,’  said he crafts footwear from recycled plastic waste. “The problem in Nigeria is that over 90.5 per cent of plastic have never been recycled. We have a lot of recycling companies around but the volume of plastic waste is still very high.”

“Aside the fact that we even make shoes from plastic waste, we realised that even Adidas, Nike in the US, make shoes from plastic waste. It starts from the collection of discarded plastic. There are machines that shred these plastics, then heat and get them drawn into yarns. The yarns are turned into fiber and we make any design from them.”

“We want to make anything wearable from these sustainable materials,” added the Environmental Scientist graduate of the University of Lagos.

Katsina State born Intissar Bashir Kurfi, Managing Partner Ifrique Eco Solutions is busy making money by converting disposed plastics to interlocking tiles, building blocks amongst others.

“I have always had issues with how waste is disposed and knowing the negative effects of nylon littering, I started researching into ways to put these disposed nylons to positive use. That was how I came about interlocking tiles production.”

“Five hundred water sachet can be used to make one inter locking tile. Any nylon can be used for this. This innovation can be used to build roads and houses. The end results are sure to last longer because research has proved that plastics do not degrade into the ground’’, explained Intissar.

Listening to this amazing Architect on March 15, during a Zoom conference anchored by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) to commemorate World Consumer Day, which theme was ‘Tackling plastic pollution in the environment’, one is convinced that there is indeed wealth in waste.

The Abuja-based Intissar established a factory in the state capital for upcycling plastic waste in Abuja. The factory upcycles Low Density Polyethylene [LDPE] such as pure water sachets, plastic bottles, polythene bags and others into interlocking tiles.

Intissar, who was among the youth innovators who received cash donation of N500,000 from the Federal Government last year, also said her company uses PET bottles like the one from bottled water and plastic drinks to build toilets instead of the usual blocks. “ You can gather the pet bottles, fill them with sand and lay them just like you lay your blocks and build toilets or any structure.”

“The toilets are built using eco-friendly materials. For instance, 15,000 bottles can make a two bedroom flat. They are bullet proof and insulating,” she said.

She said she sources waste from scavengers and students whom they give incentives like small solar touch, women, jobless people all of whom they give incentives.

Employment potential for this industry is equally high, explained the mother of two. “This industry involves many people, like the collectors broken in different categories including site workers , sellers, drivers… the list is endless. We are hoping to create 500 jobs in the next two years.”

Speaking further, she said the business is very lucrative as construction goes on every day.

Industry stakeholders are equally not resting on their oars. It is in the realisation that waste management is one of the most demanding challenges faced by urban and rural residents in Nigeria, that one of the world’s leading beverage companies, Coca-Cola, was propelled to initiate the World Without Waste Vision to provide leadership and drive awareness on effective waste disposal.

Coca-Cola’s outreach to other leading beverage companies led to the formation of a voluntary group in 2012, comprising Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited and NBC, Nestle Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Seven-Up bottling company Plc; all of which became the nucleus of an industry alliance known as Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA), which was formed in 2015 to serve as the Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) for the food and beverage sector.

Despite the above, Coca-Cola, committed to tackling plastic waste pollution in the environment, along with its bottling company, NBC, went ahead to set up a large scale recovery and buyback scheme for PET bottles, where it is recycled into synthetic fibre for use.

Also amongst the numerous strides taken by Coca-Cola in this laudable venture, is the changing of the Sprite bottle in November 2020 from its iconic green plastic packaging to clear plastic packaging to increase its recyclability.

According to industry experts, this change also offers material benefits for informal waste reclaimers, due to the higher valuation placed on clear plastic bottles.

Another notable multinational committed to reducing plastic waste and turning it to wealth, is Nigeria’s foremost brewing company, Nigerian Breweries Plc.

One of the ways through which it has ensured this is by pioneering the establishment of a PET Waste Recycling Framework in partnership with other organisations, through the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) – a coalition of multinationals dedicated to promoting the cause of recycling through Awareness, Advocacy, Collection and Recycling.

According to Mrs. Sade Morgan, Corporate Affairs Director of Nigerian Breweries and the first chairman of FBRA, issues affecting effective plastic waste management cuts across six critical areas, which are generation, collection, conversion, sorting, aggregation and processing.

“Unfortunately, when you look at the level of waste management in Nigeria, it has a very low level of maturity. This is further compounded by the fact that we have low awareness among the users and the consumers themselves. There must be awareness on the separation of waste for easy management. Therefore, we have to be deliberate about awareness and enforcement for effective waste management. Plastic waste problem is accelerating, and we must curb the spread”.

“Through our Brewing a Better World Agenda, Nigerian Breweries Plc remains committed to tackling this issue and ultimately creating shared sustainable value for all stakeholders; the company, the society and the planet at large”, stated the amiable Mrs. Morgan.

FBRA, during Mrs. Morgan’s leadership, successfully recycled almost one billion bottles into fibre, created over 1,800 jobs through direct employment and ensured the creation of synthetic fiber for local industries and for export.

The giant beverage brewery, which enjoys wide acceptance and patronage across Africa, continues to drive its Brewing a Better World (BaBW) initiative, signing different Memorandum of Understanding  (MoU) with both private and government organisations with the view of creating a better and more healthier environment, that ultimately creates more opportunities for employment.

The fact is that things are gradually changing in the waste industry. A lot of people are realising that used and discarded plastics can fetch money. What is lacking now is coordination in the private sector and government encouragement. At the rate at which many people are jumping into the business, before long, plastics will cease to be a menace in the environment.

Other stakeholders, especially FBRA, which consists of eleven members and other multinationals in the industry, should also be encouraged to display some enthusiasm and commitment in tackling plastic pollution to have a cleaner and healthier environment while creating jobs for the teeming unemployed in the society.

As it stands, there is still need for the establishment of large recycling facilities that can complete the recycling process in Nigeria, so as to stimulate more demand.

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