Blessing Taiwo
The environment requires deliberate actions to keep it safe for the present and future. Its protection is an essential step to a cleaner and healthier society.
Only 30% of the urban population in Nigeria has access to formal waste collection services, leaving the majority dependent on informal and unsafe practices that significantly contribute to air and soil pollution; according to the African Journal of Environmental Sciences and Renewable Energy’s study on environmental pollution in Nigeria published in 2025.
Nestle Nigeria, a leading food and beverage company, has stepped into the situation, strategically involving environmental agencies and regulators to intervene through collective climate actions and support schemes.
For seven consecutive years, it has carried out nationwide sensitisation and clean-up programmes. Part of the activities include recycling of plastics to advance the circular economy in Nigeria.
Committed to building resilient communities, the company embarked on some environmental and recycling projects in commemoration of the 2026 World Environment Day.
World Environment Day is marked annually on June 5 to create awareness and urge action on environment protection.
For this year’s celebration, Nestle Nigeria began a coalition involving government agencies, regulators, recyclers, development partners and the media to drive community sensitization and clean-up activities in different parts of the country.
The selected locations were: Lagos, Abuja, Agbara, Jos, Kano, Enugu, Awka, Ota, Abaji, Sagamu, Port Harcourt and Ibadan.
Nestlé Cares volunteers, the company’s employee volunteering programme, alongside volunteers from the partnering organisations captured in the coalition executed the programme.
The participating organisations are: the Federal Ministry of Environment, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), the Lagos State Ministry of Environment, and the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), alongside industry platforms such as the National Plastics Action Partnership (NPAP), the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA), the Circular Economy Innovation Partnership (CEIP), and the Recyclers Association of Nigeria (RAN).
Through the efforts of over 400 volunteers across the selected cities, a total of 4,507.8kg of solid waste and 48.2kg of recyclable waste was recovered, according to reports from the African Clean-Up Initiative (ACI) and the Recyclers Association of Nigeria (RAN).
The gathered waste was processed through appropriate recycling and disposal pathways, contributing to cleaner public spaces and supporting broader efforts to reduce waste leakage into the environment.
With public-private collaboration in tackling environmental challenges, Nestle Nigeria demonstrates its commitment to plastics neutrality and responsible packaging while supporting stronger waste recovery systems.
The plastics value chain formed has improved plastic waste recovery and enhanced circular economic outcomes.
Since 2019, these collaborative efforts have helped recover more than 60,000 metric tons of plastic for recycling through partners such as Chanja Datti, Wecyclers, and MECOM, diverting significant volumes of plastic waste from the environment and back into productive use.
In her comment on the initiative, Victoria Uwadoka, former Lead Corporate Communications, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Nestlé Nigeria, stressed the need to move from awareness to collective environmental actions.
“Waste management outcomes improve when intervention shifts from awareness alone to shared accountability across the value chain.
“This coalition is designed to connect policy, infrastructure, community action, and market-based recovery systems in a way that can deliver more durable environmental results,” she said.
Nestlé Nigeria has also encouraged responsible waste management through its Employee Plastics Collection Scheme, which has recovered more than 12,000kg of plastic since 2022, reinforcing employee engagement and encouraging positive behavioural change.
These impressive environmental actions and collaborative efforts in keeping Nigeria clean and safe point to the company’s commitment to a healthy environment beyond the healthy food and beverage it produces.
For a better society
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