Waste management

Waste management covers everything that happens to rubbish after you throw it away: collecting it, transporting it, sorting it, recycling or composting what can be reused, and safely disposing of the rest. Good systems follow a simple order of priority: reduce waste first, then reuse, then recycle and compost, and only then burn for energy or landfill what is left.

The global picture, from the World Bank's What a Waste 2.0: the world produces about 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste a year, and that is projected to reach 3.40 billion tonnes by 2050. Between one-third and 40% of it is not managed properly and is dumped or openly burned. Waste generation in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to roughly triple by 2050, and more than half of the region's waste currently goes to open dumps. The waste sector produced about 5% of global emissions in 2016 (about 1.6 billion tonnes of CO2e), mostly from open dumping and from landfills with no system to capture the gas.

• Rapid urban growth and rising consumption mean more waste than collection systems were built to handle.
• Not enough trucks, roads and treatment sites. Poor road access, truck breakdowns and expensive diesel slow down collection.
• Open dumping and landfilling without controls. Old dumpsites keep receiving waste with little sorting or gas capture.
• Low sorting at source. When food waste, plastic and metal are mixed, most of the value is lost and recycling becomes hard.
• Illegal dumping and weak payment. Waste thrown on road medians, canals or open plots, and households that do not pay for collection, leave operators short of money.
• Weak enforcement and limited funding for the waste sector.

• Flooding. Waste blocks drains and canals, so rainwater cannot flow away. Lagos officials have called indiscriminate dumping an act of sabotage because of its role in flooding.
• Health risks. Piles of rubbish attract pests and spread disease, and standing water breeds mosquitoes.
• Air pollution. Open burning and dumpsite fires release smoke and toxic fumes.
• Greenhouse gases. Rotting waste releases methane, a powerful climate-warming gas.
• Water and soil pollution. Liquid from dumpsites can seep into groundwater and rivers.
• Plastic reaching waterways and the sea. See the plastic pollution topic.
• Lost value. Organic waste, plastic, metal and paper that could be recycled, composted or turned into energy are buried or burned.

• Subscribe to a licensed collector. In Lagos, households are required by law to keep waste bins and to subscribe to a licensed PSP (private sector participation) operator, and paying on time keeps collection running.
• Never dump in drains, canals, road medians or open plots. Use bins or designated collection points. Lagos State has set a penalty of ₦250,000 or up to three months in prison for illegal dumping and littering.
• Separate your waste at source: wet or food waste in one bin, dry recyclables (plastic bottles, cans, paper, cardboard) in another.
• Compost food and garden waste if you have space, which cuts the amount going to dumpsites and makes useful soil.
• Give or sell recyclables to waste pickers or recycling aggregators.
• Reduce and reuse. Buy only what you need, repair things, and avoid disposable packaging.
• Never burn waste.
• Keep drains in front of your home and shop clear, especially before the rainy season.
• Report problems to your state waste agency (LAWMA in Lagos has toll-free lines and digital platforms) instead of dumping.
• Organise a neighbourhood or church clean-up, and make sure the waste you collect is taken to a proper site.

• Scale. The Federal Ministry of Environment estimates Nigeria generates about 32 million tonnes of waste per year, among the highest in Africa. Other estimates are around 35 million tonnes, and national data is limited.
• Lagos. Lagos generates between 13,000 and 15,000 tonnes of waste a day from about 22 million people, according to LAWMA. Officials said LAWMA and PSP operators evacuated about 418,500 tonnes in May 2026, roughly 13,200 tonnes a day. About half or more of the waste is organic. LAWMA says the state needs around 2,000 compactor trucks for efficient statewide collection. Challenges officials list include poor road access, rain, truck breakdowns, costly diesel and spare parts, and weak payment compliance by residents. LAWMA recorded 1,023 illegal dumping and related violations in 2025. Street sweeping now covers about 1,000 routes, and a tricycle-based door-to-door model is expanding into areas that compactor trucks cannot reach.
• Moving away from open dumping. Lagos is replacing the Olusosun (Ojota) and Solous III (Igando) dumpsites with transfer loading stations. The plan is for Olusosun to send about 2,500 tonnes a day to a new material recovery facility in Ikorodu, designed to recover most incoming waste, and for Solous III to send about 1,500 tonnes a day to a facility in Badagry. The state has signed an agreement with Zoomlion Nigeria, and a 1,500-tonne-per-day waste-to-energy plant with a Dutch firm is also planned. A pilot biogas plant at Epe Food Market turns about 500 kg of organic waste a day into electricity. These facilities were still under construction at the time of the sources below, so check for updates.
• Other states. Waste collection and disposal are mostly handled by state agencies, so quality varies widely between states and between cities and rural areas.
• Climate link. Nigeria's NDC 3.0 includes a pledge to scale up recycling and cut open waste burning by 40%.
• Informal sector. Waste pickers and scavengers at dumpsites recover large volumes of plastic and metal and are a key part of how recycling works in practice. Experts argue that training and formalising this sector is part of the solution.