As Nigeria’s population continues to grow, estimated by the United Nations Population Fund to reach over 237 million by 2025 so does the volume of waste generated across the country.
With over 32 million tonnesof solid waste produced annually according to the World Bank, the pressure on city authorities and private stakeholders to develop sustainable waste management systems has never been greater.
Among the most transformative responses to this challenge is the Extended Producer
Responsibility (EPR) policy, introduced in 2014 through the National Environmental
Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA).
This policy gave birth to the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) in 2018, Nigeria’s rst Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) for the food and beverage sector.
Since its establishment, FBRA has evolved from a consortium of four founding
members into a robust alliance of 49 member organisations as at November 2025,
collectively driving the recovery, recycling, and circular management of post- consumer packaging waste.
The Alliance has successfully collected over 100,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste from the environment, redening waste not as a
nuisance but as a resource within Nigeria’s circular economy. “While FBRA may notbe a household name onthe streets, its impact is visible in cleaner communities and empowered waste collectors, particularly in Lagos State,” said Victoria Uwadoka, Corporate Communications, Public Affairs and Sustainability Lead at Nestlé Nigeria.
Beyond being one of Nigeria’s largest and most trusted food and beverage companies,
Nestlé Nigeria has taken a bold leadership role in environmental sustainability and
waste management.
The company’s approach goes beyond people and prot, it embraces planet stewardship as a core business principle.
Nestlé Nigeria was one of FBRA’s founding members, and over the years has remained
one of its most active supporters and advocates.
As Victoria Uwadoka explains: “Though as producers we compete commercially, we unite as collaborators when it comes to fullling shared environmental responsibilities.”
This collaborative spirit has been the foundation of Nestlé’s pioneering achievements in packaging innovation and wasterecovery. In December 2023,the company achieved 100% plastic neutrality, taking back every tonne of plastic it put into the market.
This milestone underscores Nestlé’s commitment to ensuring that the volume of packaging material it introduces into the environment is matched by an equivalent amount recovered and recycled.
Furthermore, Nestlé became the rst company in Nigeria to incorporate 50% recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) into its Nestlé Pure Life water bottles, fully
compliant with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria’s food-grade packaging standards.
This initiative reects not a one-time commitment but a sustained effort
toward circularity, a feat many producers have yet to match consistently.
Through FBRA’s framework, Nestlé Nigeria and other producershave been able to
galvanize the waste value chain, from collection to transformation, ensuring that
plastics are retrieved, recycled, and reintegrated into production cycles.
The Alliance’s model demonstrates that whenproducers, recyclers, collectors, andregulators collaborate, waste becomes wealth. “The manufacturers do not produce plastics to litter the streets,” Uwadoka explains.
“Consumers discardthem, but through FBRA’s system, that waste is recovered,
creating jobs and value in the process.”
She further emphasized the importance of circularity in Nestlé’s sustainability
approach: “Every bottle that is taken out and doesn’t end up in the ocean is one bottle
less of a problem. Closing the loop is key, circularity is the destination. It’s not just about collection but ensuring we use, collect, transform, and reuse.”
The FBRA-Nestlé partnership exemplies how industry-led collaboration can drivereal impact in environmental management. Through shared responsibility, continuous investment, and innovation, both organisations are not only addressing Nigeria’s waste challenges but also advancing global sustainability goals.
As Nestlé Nigeria continues to take the lead in closing the loop and FBRA strengthens
the bridge between producers and recyclers, the message is clear: building a cleaner,
more sustainable Nigeria is a collective effort and progress is well underway.
