Nigeria's Informal Waste Pickers Combat Plastic Pollution and Climate Change

Thousands of informal waste pickers across Nigeria are recovering tonnes of discarded plastics daily from dumpsites, markets, and roadsides, becoming an essential part of the country's response to its growing plastic pollution and climate change challenge.

Why This Matters for Nigeria's Environment

Thousands of informal waste pickers in Nigeria have become unlikely allies in the fight against plastic pollution and climate change. Despite harsh conditions, they recover tonnes of discarded plastics every day from dumpsites, markets, and roadsides. Their work has become an important part of Nigeria's response to its growing plastic pollution and climate change challenge.

The experiences of Abdulrafiu, Jerry, and Ibrahim reflect a much bigger environmental problem facing Nigeria. Plastic waste has become one of the country's fastest-growing pollution challenges, threatening public health, worsening flooding, and contributing to climate change.

According to the United Nations Development Programme, Nigeria generates more than 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste every year, but less than 10 per cent is recycled. The rest ends up in dumpsites, drainage channels, rivers, lagoons, and the ocean, or is burnt in the open, releasing harmful pollutants and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

On the Ground: Daily Life of Waste Pickers

As traders prepare to open their shops and commuters begin their daily rush, Abdulrafiu walks through mountains of refuse at various dumpsites with nothing but a hooked iron rod and a worn-out sack. His mission is simple: find discarded plastic bottles, sachet water nylons, and food containers that can be sold to recycling agents before they disappear beneath fresh heaps of waste. The smell of decaying refuse hangs heavily in the air as flies swarm around the dumpsite.

Despite the harsh conditions, Abdulrafiu carefully sorts through the rubbish, separating recyclable plastics from the rest. To many people, he is simply another scavenger trying to survive. But every plastic bottle he recovers is one less item that could end up blocking a drainage channel, polluting a river, or being burnt in the open, releasing harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Without knowing it, Abdulrafiu is quietly contributing to Nigeria's fight against plastic pollution and climate change.

But I know that when plastics block gutters, floods will come. And when floods come, poor people suffer first. Like thousands of informal waste pickers across Nigeria, Abdulrafiu's concern is not environmental activism. It is survival.

Economic Reality and Working Conditions

The plastics he collects provide the little income he depends on to feed his family. A few kilometres away in the busy commercial district of Oshodi, another waste picker begins his own daily search. Just like Abdulrafiu, 30-year-old Jerry Samuel walks through crowded markets, bus stops, and overflowing refuse bins in search of discarded plastic bottles and sachet water nylons. The work is physically demanding, but Jerry says the greatest challenge is often the way people treat him.

It is very stressful. Many traders don't allow us to pick plastics around their shops. Some people call us thieves, while others chase us away. Originally from Gombe State, he holds a diploma in Management Studies from Plateau State Polytechnic.

After spending years searching unsuccessfully for paid employment, he turned to collecting recyclable plastics to survive. For more than two years, he has depended on selling recyclable plastics for his livelihood. On a good day, he earns about N3,000. How is it sustainable? he asked.

What I earn is hardly enough for breakfast, not to talk of lunch and dinner. You can see my hands, he said, stretching out his palms covered with cuts and scars. He said the harsh working conditions have affected his health. I have fallen sick many times, he recalled.

Most times I become feverish because of the sun, the stress, and the nature of the work. Despite facing these dangers daily, Jerry said neither the government nor any private organisation has ever provided him with gloves, boots, health insurance, or any other form of support.

Survival Over Stigma

For 35-year-old Ibrahim, scavenging became a way to keep his family afloat after life took an unexpected turn. Every morning, he hung his sack and travelled through the streets of Lagos, stopping whenever he spotted discarded plastic bottles or other recyclable materials. We needed something to survive, he said. At first, I was ashamed because people looked down on us. Later, I realised that honest work is better than begging.

There are days I leave before 6 a.m. and don't get back until evening, he said. He also works without gloves or safety boots. I have stepped on broken bottles several times, he said. But what choice do we have?

We have to keep working. Although Abdulrafiu, Jerry, and Ibrahim know little about climate science, they all understand one thing: plastic waste should not be left on the streets. If nobody picks these plastics, they will remain everywhere.

A Nationwide Pattern

Across Lagos and other parts of Nigeria, thousands of informal waste pickers share similar stories. Driven by poverty, unemployment, and the need to provide for their families, they recover tonnes of discarded plastics every day from dumpsites, markets, and roadsides. Their work, though largely unnoticed, has become an important part of Nigeria's response to its growing plastic pollution and climate change challenge.

Courtesy: www.ng.headtopics.com