The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency has announced plans to integrate Nigeria’s informal waste workers into the Extended Producer Responsibility framework using a cooperative-led model.
NESREA Director General Prof. Innocent Barikor unveiled the plan Wednesday during a virtual stakeholder sensitization on the Cooperative-Led EPR Model as a formalization strategy for the informal sector.
Barikor said the initiative aims to close gaps in the EPR ecosystem by organizing waste collectors, sorters, and recyclers into recognized cooperatives. The structure will give them legal identity and access to governance systems, financing, digital inclusion, social protection, and compliance support.
“The Cooperative-Led EPR Model presents an opportunity to organize waste actors into recognized cooperatives, provide them with legal identity, digital inclusion, financial access and social protection, while simultaneously strengthening national EPR implementation and environmental data systems,” he said.
The framework includes digital onboarding platforms, traceability systems, and a proposed Cooperative Passport to help informal operators transition into formal economic participants.
Dr. Peter Ayim, Chief Steward of the Nigeria Environmental Stewardship Cooperative Society, said the model offers a scalable pathway to an inclusive circular economy. He noted it would tackle long-standing challenges facing informal workers: lack of recognition, poor access to finance, occupational hazards, and social exclusion.
Ayim cited Brazil, Colombia, India, South Africa, and several EU member states as examples where cooperative-led systems have successfully integrated informal waste actors into structured EPR programmes.
“Global experience confirms that cooperative-led systems are the most effective pathway for integrating informal waste actors into structured EPR frameworks, delivering both environmental sustainability and inclusive economic growth,” he said.
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Stakeholders at the meeting included the Recyclers Association of Nigeria, Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance, E-Waste Producers Responsibility Organization of Nigeria, and Rural Women Energy Security.
NESREA said the approach is both a social and economic strategy to improve livelihoods while strengthening data-driven waste management and environmental sustainability.
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