In the bustling hubs of Oke-Arin Market in Lagos and Utako Market in Abuja, a different kind of commerce is taking place—the business of environmental redemption.
For the sixth consecutive year, armies of Nestlé Cares volunteers have descended upon 11 marketplaces across Nigeria, extracting over 5,600 kilograms of waste in a tangible demonstration of corporate environmental stewardship.
This public clean-up, however, represents just one front in Nestlé Nigeria’s broader campaign for a waste-free future. The company is building what it calls a “circular economy” from the ground up, a system where plastic is retrieved and given new life rather than clogging landfills and waterways. Since 2019, this multi-pronged strategy has successfully diverted over 61,000 metric tons of plastic from the environment.
The engine of this circular system is its human capital. Recognizing that a sustainable future depends on the dignity and safety of those at its frontline, Nestlé recently trained 100 plastic waste workers in Lagos and Abuja. Equipped with vital safety knowledge and personal protective equipment, these often-invisible workers are now better shielded from occupational hazards as they perform the crucial task of reducing pollution.
“We are committed to building a waste-free future and recognize the crucial role plastic waste workers play,” said Victoria Uwadoka, Corporate Communications and Sustainability Lead at Nestlé Nigeria. This commitment extends inward as well, through an Employee Plastics Collection Scheme that has empowered staff to divert nearly 6,000 kilograms of their own plastic waste from landfills.
Professor Innocent Barikor, Director General of NESREA, commended the focus on these essential workers, noting they are often unrecognized yet vital in the national fight against plastic pollution.
By merging large-scale clean-up drives with deep, systemic investment in the people and partnerships that power recycling, Nestlé is crafting a model of environmental responsibility that is as much about social inclusion as it is about collecting bottles. It is a recognition that a healthier planet requires both cleaning our public spaces and empowering the individuals who make that cleanliness possible.
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