Lagos, Nigeria - August 06, 2024

A Nigerian startup named Statewide Waste and Environmental Project (SWEEP) has been focusing on plastic waste recycling to help the capital city of Lagos tackle its mounting trash problem.

Plastic pollution is one of the major environmental problems that the Nigerian commercial hub of Lagos continues to grapple with, according to Nigerian authorities.

Among the estimated 870,000 tonnes of plastic waste generated in Lagos annually, only about 12 percent of that is collected by waste pickers or recyclers.

As one of the important forces of recyclers, SWEEP collects plastic waste and used cans across the city to help address the huge plastic waste disposal challenge that Lagos faces.

Since its official operations in 2023, SWEEP has collected huge amounts of plastic waste for onward recycling. It currently collects and processes 13 tons of plastic waste monthly, and they're aiming to increase that to 20 tons in the next few months, according to Obuesi.

Due to its size and financial constraints, SWEEP only processes plastic waste into a recyclable state and then sells it to recyclers, without participating in disposal procedures.

When it comes to the development plans, Obuesi said SWEEP has been working on expanding its business scope.

Shotlist:
Lagos, Nigeria – Aug 6, 2024:
1. Exterior of factory, Statewide Waste and Environmental Project (SWEEP);
2. Compressed plastic bottle piles, poster reading "waste in the city";
3. Logo on wall, reading "sweep";
4. Worker carrying plastic bottles into factory;
5. Interior of factory, workers working;
6. SOUNDBITE (English), Phillips Obuesi, founder, SWEEP Foundation (partially overlaid with shots 7-9):
"What we do is to sensitize the communities about separating their waste from source. For those who do, we come pick up the recyclable waste. So we go into the streets, we go into the households, we carry out mass mobilization, sensitization and they are the ones that actually give us these wastes. But, as the business developed, we now have collectors, people who do the collection on our behalf, we now aggregate. So, we also have some tricycles that go out there to mop up the recyclable waste from diverse communities.";
[SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
7. Workers unloading plastic bottles form vehicle;
8. Workers carrying sack, plastic bottles;
9. Workers weighing plastic bottles;
[SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
10. Various of workers compressing plastic bottles with compressor;
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Phillips Obuesi, founder, SWEEP Foundation (starting with shot 10/partially overlaid with shots 12):
"All that is necessary is for us to bring in some level of creativity, create more awareness, partner with people of like-minded, engage more with our communities, and the plastics will come out. Otherwise, those plastics will end up in our dump sites. So, I think we just have to do more for the Lagos environment because without activities of organizations like our own, by now, Lagosians would have been wading through waste to go to work and to go to market and to do their businesses.";
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
12. Various of workers sorting plastic bottles;
[SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
13. Workers pouring plastic bottles into compressor;
14. Various of workers transporting plastic bottle pile;
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Phillips Obuesi, founder, SWEEP Foundation (starting with shot14):
"This place is an MRF, a material recovery facility. The next step in the next two years, according to our business development plan, is to own a one-stop shop. Collection, aggregation, sorting, reprocessing and actual processing.";
16. Phillips checking plastic bottles;
17. Interior of factory, plastic bottles.

[Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]