Assessing the contributions of informal waste management sector and its economic potentials in Nigeria: Challenges and opportunities for macro-level circular economy implementation

Informality is one factor associated with solid waste management in developing countries. Studies are scarce on the implications of these informalities to macro-level circular economy (CE) adoption in these global regions. Contributing to this gap in knowledge, this study analyzed Nigeria's informal waste management sector to appraise its contribution to the waste management value chain in the CE. It also evaluated the associated challenges and opportunities that could facilitate or hinder its adoption in macro-level CE implementation. The result of the study shows that informal waste sectors contribute significantly to the waste management value chain such as collection, transportation, sorting, upcycling, resource recovery, and recycling. The informal waste collection, which is currently the only means of collecting recyclables in Nigeria is estimated to collect about 3.35 million tonnes (Mt) in 2030 from the current value of 2.69 Mt in 2023. It has the potential to make economic savings of about $121.48 million and add a net revenue of $454. 41 million to the national economy by 2030. Given these contributions, other identified opportunities for including the informal waste sector in the macro-level CE include; providing a source of livelihood to socially marginalized urban populations while promoting environmental sustainability; providing waste collection services to unserved urban areas, creating a circular business model, creating a platform for possible transition to zero waste status, aiding the implementation of extended producer responsibility, and providing cheap input material for local industries. The challenges include harsh work conditions and social capital, non-standardized metrics for the trade of recyclables, unavailability of data, poor quality recyclables caused by not segregating waste from source, child waste picker, gender exclusiveness, and absence of novel waste treatment facilities.