Coca-Cola Foundation Supports FABE International Foundation To Launch Project TIDYNIGERIA

A Community/Household Recycling Drive FABE International Foundation has taken project #TidyNigeria one-step further. 

With funding from the Coca-Cola Foundation, FABE International Foundation will be establishing five (5) #TidyNigeriaRecyclingHubs across Lagos State, Nigeria. This validates our Foundation’s goal to Create a Zero Waste Nigeria one community at a time. 

Plastic pollution has been a major issue in Lagos, Nigeria being a coastal city. Some of the impacts people face due to improper sorting and disposal of waste are flooding, diseases, loss of lives and properties. An estimate of 8.3 billion tons of plastics have been produced since the 1950s but more than half either end up in our dumpsite or oceans making them super difficult to recover or recycle.

FABE has developed an innovative recovery strategy known as the #TidyNigeriaRecyclingDrive that will educate, sensitise, promote more recovery, and encourage households and communities to subscribe to the intentional and proper sorting of waste from source in exchange for value.

Speaking on the initiative, President of The Coca-Cola Foundation, Saadia Madsbjerg, noted that The Foundation supports grassroot initiatives that build resilience of communities to properly manage their waste streams. According to her, “This grant will support local communities in Lagos to better manage waste as we collectively journey towards a zero waste society, globally, one community at a time. 

Speaking on the initiative, Nwamaka Onyemelukwe, Director of Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability, said Coca-Cola Foundation supports programmes around the world that are centred on water, waste disposals and community well-being. Hence, this project which involves the whole community of VGC is to create awareness for people at home to start separating their wastes and thereby recycle them.

According to Amaka, Coca-Cola’s aspiration is to ensure that every bottle being put in the market is recovered and recycled into another bottle; that’s why Coca-Cola Foundation is supporting the FABE project. She said that this phase is targeted to cover five estates, and five more estates are going to be replicated in other communities, with the aim to ensure that everyone in the community participates.

She said, “We want to make sure that anyone who brings in separated wastes (pet bottles and cans) for recycling in these drop-off centres are rewarded with cash incentives. We are using this to empower women and youths within the communities and to create awareness for people so that less wastes end up in our drainage and oceans. Also, we are using this to help the livelihood of people living in the community, so that they can realise that plastic bottles are not total waste after-all, and the end result is to create a healthy environment for everyone. Our partnership with FABE Foundation is such that it gets to every community within the State, not just eyebrow areas. We want to ensure that a total of 600 metric tonnes of plastic wastes are recovered by the end of the project, and we would also ensure that we are present in these communities even at the end of the project.”

Another objective of the partnership is to bring about behavioural change of the people in the communities such that they should stop tossing away bottles after consumption of drinks. 

Speaking in the same vein, Temitope Okunnu, CEO FABE International Foundations, said the #TidyNigeria Recycling Drive is about bringing recycling hubs and collection centre close to the people. It drives to promote advantages of waste separations and recycling. The foundation being funded by Coca-Cola Foundations is bringing this solution to the people, by not just recycling but also recycle for reward and the turnout since inception has been amazing.

“It’s important for people to sort out their wastes from bio-degradable and non-bio-degradable. Here in VGC, bio-degradable goes into the composites, particularly the garden wastes; because there are a lot of trees in this area. Then the recycling of non-bio-degradable like pet bottles are being traded for stipends in the recycling hubs. As you know that Lagos is surrounded by waters, we don’t want all these recyclables to end up in our oceans and water bodies and the dumpsites,” she said.

The #TidyNigeria Recycling Drive would be used as one of the solutions that will contribute to solving the climate crisis in Lagos, Nigeria by leveraging Experiential Advocacy and Technology to address the menace of plastic waste pollution, poverty and unemployment in Ocean Frontline Communities, Households, Companies and Businesses with women and youths as drivers of the #TidyNigeriaHubs which will innovatively collect, process and convert post-consumer packaging into industrial and consumer goods through our #EcoShop.

Some #TidyNigeriaHubs will be located inside estates, and communities and will operate as a community led, community-inclusive hub strategically selected to meet our ambitious target recovery of 600 Tons of post-consumer packaging. This will encourage waste segregation and sorting from point of source and offer consumers the convenience and accessibility to recycle their household waste in a Tidy Nigeria Recycling Hub. Everyone can now drop-off their PET bottles, cans, and cartons from different households, and communities, and be rewarded immediately through the #EcoShop. This inclusion will allow Tidy Nigeria Recycling Hub users redeem cash or value to support their social needs.

The #TidyNigeriaHubs has been designed to:

1. Empower Community Women
2. Employ Young People
3. Drive Community Engagement
4. Provide Skill Acquisition, Experiential Advocacy and Education.

It is our hope that the #TidyNigeraRecyclingDrive will bring about behavioural and attitudinal change towards waste sorting, disposal, and recovery.

The Tidy Nigeria solution to Plastic Pollution in Lagos State will greatly contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions, towards ensuring a Zero Carbon Lagos, Waste Free Lagos, Circular Economy, Environmental Sustainability, and a World Without Waste.

The Goal of the #TidyNigeriaRecyclingDrive is to sensitize communities in Lagos, Nigeria on the effects of plastic pollution, drive recovery of post-consumer packaging and generate sources of income for the women and youths in the community.  

About FABE International Foundation:

FABE International Foundation is a non-governmental, not-for-profit environmental health and sustainability organization passionate about the establishment and improvement of an eco-conscious generation committed and dedicated to restoration, conservation, sustainability, and protection of the environment. FABE was established on the 5th of June 2008 as a social enterprise in Lagos, Nigeria, driven from the passion of the founder when she won the first ever Miss Environment Pageant in Nigeria in 2006. 

FABE International Foundation was formerly registered as a not-for-profit organization in 2016 with a formal establishment of Board of Trustees comprising of experts within the environmental sustainability sector. FABE is an organization in Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council, a corporate member of the Recyclers Association of Nigeria and Associate/NGO member of Lagos Recyclers Association.

We provide hands-on vocational skills training and climate-smart innovative solutions to young people, particularly young women in the marine frontline and low-income communities through what we call experiential advocacy and education, whilst tackling the menace of improper disposal of waste from the source of waste generation.

Some of our programs include:

1. Schools Advocacy Programs (EcoSchoolsNG)

2. Community Advocacy Programs (Tidy Nigeria)

3. Waste Management Skill Acquisition Training Programs (Recycling, Composting and Upcycling)

4. Marine Waste Exhibitions and Green Skill Trainings and Award

In other to effectively inculcate responsible behavioral change towards sanitation, sustainability, and circular economy, FABE established the EcoSchoolsNG Recycling Program in 32 schools and among 7000 students in Badagry, Epe, and Ikorodu and Lagos Mainland because of the need for proper sorting and efficient recovery of post-consumer packaging and hygiene on the school grounds and external environment.

We intend to build more Recycling Hubs in more schools to further encourage proper sanitation and hygiene, while accelerating collection of post-consumer packaging (PET, Cans, Sachet, paper, and Cartons) in collaboration with other stakeholders.

Our vision is to promote and create eco-conscious communities, by engaging youths and everyone in the society to create sustainable eco-solutions to problems caused by the impact of climate change which affects the health and environment of the people.

Communication objectives:

To recover a post-consumer packaging, reduce emission to net-zero, and to achieve Zero Waste through Ethical Recycling and behavioral change.

Target Audiences: Estates, Ocean frontline communities, schools, markets, eateries, malls, banks, companies, religious organizations, recreational and event centers.

Key Messages: Waste must be sorted at source, especially plastic packaging, and cans.

How: Experiential advocacy through training and community engagement, campaign, press briefing, social media, sensitization, and massive awareness.

Contact: