NESREA Moves to Integrate Informal Waste Workers into EPR Framework Through Cooperative Model

NESREA Moves to Integrate Informal Waste Workers into EPR Framework Through Cooperative Model

By: Michael Mike

The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has unveiled plans to formally integrate informal waste workers into Nigeria’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework through a Cooperative-Led Model aimed at expanding inclusion, improving environmental compliance and strengthening the circular economy.

Director General of National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, Professor Innocent Barikor, disclosed this on Wednesday during a virtual stakeholder sensitization programme on the Cooperative-Led Extended Producer Responsibility Model as a formalization strategy for the informal sector.

Barikor said the initiative is designed to bridge long-standing gaps in the EPR ecosystem by bringing informal waste collectors, sorters and recyclers into recognized cooperative structures that provide access to governance systems, financing, digital inclusion, social protection and environmental compliance support.

According to him, the cooperative-led framework would create opportunities for informal operators to gain legal identity and transition gradually into formal economic participants through digital onboarding platforms, traceability systems and a proposed Cooperative Passport framework.

“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.

Barikor described the initiative as both a social and economic transformation strategy capable of improving livelihoods while boosting environmental sustainability and data-driven waste management practices.

Chief Steward of the Nigeria Environmental Stewardship Cooperative Society, Dr. Peter Ayim, who presented the framework, said the model offers Nigeria a scalable pathway toward building an inclusive circular economy.

Ayim noted that the cooperative system would help tackle major structural challenges confronting informal waste workers, including lack of formal recognition, poor access to financing, occupational hazards, health and safety concerns, and social exclusion.

He cited countries such as Brazil, Colombia, India and South Africa, as well as member states of the European Union, 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 stated.

Stakeholders at the virtual meeting included the Recyclers Association of Nigeria, Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance, E-Waste Producers Responsibility Organization of Nigeria and Rural Women Energy Security, among others.

NESREA Moves to Integrate Informal Waste Workers into EPR Framework Through Cooperative Model