Nigerian entrepreneur turns trash to cash

Nigeria's megacity Lagos has always had waste in abundance. This is no surprise owing to the millions of people who live in the sprawling city.
Wecyclers, a waste gathering and processing company is giving communities a way out of this urban challenge by providing a reliable supply of materials to local recycling companies.
Wecyclers works with low income households collecting their trash and giving then redeemable points in exchange.
What started in 2012 as a social enterprise initiative has grown to enlist 11,000 homes across Lagos suburbs.
Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola, the chief executive officer of Wecyclers had always wanted to build a network that would see residents in communities get rewarded for their work.
At her factory in Lagos, plastic bottles, cans, cartons, and nylons are collated and processed or crushed before they are bagged and sent to local recycling companies who use the materials for manufacturing.
"We are making it easier, we are making the environment cleaner and we are helping to you know reduce the pressure on our land fields because our land fields are filling up, we are reducing CO2 emissions, we are making ehmm you know we are helping to strengthen the economy because we are providing viable alternatives to virgin materials," the 34 year old said.
Wecyclers with the aid of team members who ride cargo-bikes collects at least 100 tonnes of wastes monthly.The company says it is yet to process at full capacity because of erratic electricity supply in the country.
Chronic power shortages are one of the biggest constraints on investment and growth in Africa's largest economy, an issue the government says it is working to fix.

Pictures courtesy: Akintunde Akinleye