Plastic waste and debris accumulate along the waterfront in Lagos. Photo: Jorge Castaneda/World Bank.
Lagos is rapidly becoming Africa’s model megacity, and with its growth comes the challenge of managing its increasing waste generation. By continuing to improve waste management, authorities in Lagos can enhance the well-being of its residents and safeguard local livelihoods. Easier said than done, given limited financial resources for waste management infrastructure... In this respect, beyond financial investment, how can everyday Lagosians play an active role in managing the waste they produce?
To engage citizens in waste management, among other initiatives, authorities have developed a comprehensive waste management plan to address systemic waste issues, from waste collection to recycling. Collection efforts have also been expanded to account for marine waste. Pakam, a mobile app that encourages citizens to collect recyclables, has been rolled out, as have educational campaigns to create awareness about waste management and change how citizens handle waste.
To design more effective interventions for citizen engagement, it is essential to first understand how Lagosians currently handle waste. Studies show that understanding public behavior can be an important tool for improving waste management. Citizens contribute to waste management at various stages, from when they make the choice to purchase a product to the point where they choose to either reuse, recycle, or discard the product or its packaging. However, these actions are influenced by social, psychological, and cognitive factors. For example, some people find it easier to litter on the street than to dispose of waste in a bin. In such cases, installing more bins could help, but could be reinforced by, for example, making proper waste disposal fun.
Informal waste collectors in Lagos, Nigeria, carefully weigh their collected recyclables. Photo: Jorge Castaneda/World Bank
Insights from the PROBLUE-funded survey:
To help Lagos authorities understand citizens’ waste management practices, PROBLUE conducted a survey to assess how Lagosians handle household waste. The survey highlighted common waste-management practices and the difficulties Lagosians face regarding waste collection. The findings revealed common behaviors and obstacles which are summarized in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Key survey data
View the PROBLUE full infographic here:
Proposed Solutions for improved Waste Management:
The survey also proposed simple solutions to enhance waste management in Lagos.
Strengthen Public Awareness
One of the survey’s main findings was that many citizens do not know how to properly handle waste, or what happens to waste once it is thrown away. As many as 71% of respondents were unaware of waste-management activities in Lagos. Most did not know that paper, cardboard, food waste, glass, and metal could be reused or recycled.
To address this, the Lagos government could further run awareness campaigns via media, community workshops, and school initiatives, to encourage citizens—and especially the poorest households, which exhibit the lowest awareness levels—to reduce and recycle waste. Positively framed messages (“A new, cleaner Lagos”) that include concrete tips could be highly effective. Mobile messaging and social media would be useful channels for such an awareness campaign.
Improve Convenience and Affordability
Good waste habits can be difficult to adopt. The PROBLUE survey found that it took respondents up to three minutes to walk to the nearest waste bin. Sorting waste can take even longer, such that 40% of respondents did not sort waste because of the time required to do so. Seventy percent expressed interest in a service that could collect waste from their home. It is important to make proper waste management more convenient and accessible by:
- Strategically placing waste bins in public spaces (for example near food markets);
- Partnering with mallams (informal waste collectors) to simplify the disposal of sorted waste; and
- Widely disseminating waste collection mobile apps.
Encourage Simple Lifestyle Changes
The majority of interviewed Lagosians (80%) generated plastic waste in the form of food packaging (single-use plastic wraps, films, bottles, and containers) and shopping bags. Citizens can avoid this kind of waste by opting for reusable bags, packaging, or containers. For example, ShopRite is encouraging the use of cloth bags as an alternative to plastic and reinforcing this behavior with reminder posters inside and outside its outlets. Similarly, Nigerian fast-food chain Food Concepts, is encouraging customers to bring their own containers as it moves away from polystyrene packaging. Also, where available, they can frequent stores that offer reusable bags or choose to buy food from delivery services, food courts, and canteens that use reusable or compostable containers. These small changes could substantially reduce plastic waste.
A collection and sorting facility in Lagos, which serves as a hub for storing and processing recyclables. Photo: Jorge Castaneda/World Bank.
Next steps: From Awareness to Action
The survey’s results highlight that citizen awareness, access, and affordability can determine how waste is handled, and reinforces the message that poor waste management reflects broader social issues. Lagos authorities can leverage these insights to refine existing initiatives and design future interventions that make waste management easier for all residents.
With the right strategies, Lagosians can become active partners in transforming waste management, making their city cleaner, more sustainable, and a model for other urban centers across Africa. When waste overflows despite the state’s best efforts to manage it, conducting a behavioral study to understand public behavior can inform the development of powerful tools to enlist citizens in transforming waste management.
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