The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) is taking steps to formally integrate operators in the informal sector into Nigeria’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Programme through a Cooperative-Led Model designed to organize small-scale actors into structured cooperatives.
The Director-General of NESREA, Professor Innocent Barikor, disclosed this during a virtual stakeholder sensitization programme on the “Cooperative-Led Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Model as a Formalization Strategy for the Informal Sector,” organized by the agency for stakeholders in the EPR value chain.
Prof. Barikor explained that the initiative is aimed at making the EPR ecosystem more inclusive by bringing informal waste collectors, sorters, and recyclers into the formal system.
According to him, this would provide them with access to governance structures, financing opportunities, social protection, and environmental compliance support.
“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.
He described the model as both a social and economic transformation strategy.
“Through cooperative structures, digital onboarding platforms, traceability systems and the proposed Cooperative Passport framework, informal workers can gradually transition into formal economic participants with access to enterprise support, financial literacy, health insurance, equipment leasing and other empowerment opportunities,” he added.
Scalable and Inclusive Economy
Speaking during a presentation on the Cooperative-Led EPR Model, Chief Steward of the Nigeria Environmental Stewardship Cooperative Society (NESCOOP), Dr. Peter Ayim, said the framework offers Nigeria a pathway toward a scalable and inclusive circular economy.
Dr. Ayim noted that the cooperative-led model would address major structural challenges faced by informal waste workers, including lack of formal recognition, economic vulnerability, occupational hazards, health and safety risks, and social exclusion.
He cited countries already implementing similar systems, including Brazil, Colombia, India, South Africa, and member states of the European Union.
“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 said.
Participants at the virtual meeting included major stakeholders in the EPR value chain such as the Recyclers Association of Nigeria (RAN), the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA), the E-Waste Producers Responsibility Organization of Nigeria (EPRON), and Rural Women Energy Security (RUWES), among others.
 is taking steps to formally integrate operators in the informal sector into Nigeria’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Programme through a Cooperative-Led Model designed to organize small-scale actors into structured cooperatives.){kind=link}