Nestlé Nigeria and FBRA: Closing the Loop in Nigeria’s Waste Administration Ecosystem

As Nigeria’s inhabitants continues to develop, estimated by the United Nations
Inhabitants Fund to succeed in over 237 million by 2025—so does the quantity of waste
generated throughout the nation. With over 32 million tonnes of strong waste produced
yearly in line with the World Financial institution, the stress on metropolis authorities and personal
stakeholders to develop sustainable waste administration methods has by no means been
higher.

Among the many most transformative responses to this problem is the Prolonged Producer
Duty (EPR) coverage, launched in 2014 by the Nationwide Environmental
Requirements and Laws Enforcement Company (NESREA). This coverage gave start to
the Meals and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) in 2018, Nigeria’s first Producer
Duty Organisation (PRO) for the meals and beverage sector.

Since its institution, FBRA has developed from a consortium of 4 founding
members into a strong alliance of 49 member organisations as at November 2025,
collectively driving the restoration, recycling, and round administration of put up
client packaging waste. The Alliance has efficiently collected over 100,000
metric tonnes of plastic waste from the surroundings, redefining waste not as a
nuisance however as a useful resource inside Nigeria’s round economic system.

“Whereas FBRA will not be a family title on the streets, its influence is seen in
cleaner communities and empowered waste collectors, notably in Lagos State,”
stated Victoria Uwadoka, Company Communications, Public Affairs and Sustainability
Lead at Nestlé Nigeria.

Past being one in all Nigeria’s largest and most trusted meals and beverage firms,
Nestlé Nigeria has taken a daring management function in environmental sustainability and
waste administration. The corporate’s method goes past individuals and revenue, it
embraces planet stewardship as a core enterprise precept.

Nestlé Nigeria was one in all FBRA’s founding members, and through the years has remained
one in all its most lively supporters and advocates. As Victoria Uwadoka explains:
“Although as producers we compete commercially, we unite as
collaborators on the subject of fulfilling shared environmental
tasks.”

This collaborative spirit has been the inspiration of Nestlé’s pioneering achievements
in packaging innovation and waste restoration. In December 2023, the corporate
achieved 100% plastic neutrality, taking again each tonne of plastic it put into the
market. This milestone underscores Nestlé’s dedication to making sure that the
quantity of packaging materials it introduces into the surroundings is matched by an
equal quantity recovered and recycled.

Moreover, Nestlé grew to become the primary firm in Nigeria to include 50% recycled
polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) into its Nestlé Pure Life water bottles, totally
compliant with the Requirements Organisation of Nigeria’s food-grade packaging
requirements. This initiative displays not a one-time dedication however a sustained effort
towards circularity, a feat many producers have but to match constantly.

Via FBRA’s framework, Nestlé Nigeria and different producers have been in a position to
provoke the waste worth chain, from assortment to transformation, guaranteeing that
plastics are retrieved, recycled, and reintegrated into manufacturing cycles. The Alliance’s
mannequin demonstrates that when producers, recyclers, collectors, and regulators
collaborate, waste turns into wealth.

“The producers don’t produce plastics to litter the streets,” Uwadoka explains.
“Customers discard them, however by FBRA’s system, that waste is recovered,
creating jobs and worth within the course of.”

She additional emphasised the significance of circularity in Nestlé’s sustainability
method:
“Each bottle that’s taken out and doesn’t find yourself within the ocean is one bottle
much less of an issue. Closing the loop is essential, circularity is the vacation spot. It’s
not nearly assortment however guaranteeing we use, acquire, rework, and
reuse.”

The FBRA-Nestlé partnership exemplifies how industry-led collaboration can drive actual
influence in environmental administration. Via shared duty, steady
funding, and innovation, each organisations aren’t solely addressing Nigeria’s
waste challenges but in addition advancing world sustainability targets.

As Nestlé Nigeria continues to take the lead in closing the loop and FBRA strengthens
the bridge between producers and recyclers, the message is evident: constructing a cleaner,
extra sustainable Nigeria is a collective effort—and progress is properly underway.

Written by
Adebote Mayowa
Photojournalist, Inventive Director, Climagraphy