This World Environment Day, Nestlé Nigeria has reinforced its environmental stewardship through a comprehensive nationwide clean-up and community sensitisation campaign, underscoring the importance of corporate-community partnerships in addressing plastic pollution. In collaboration with the African Clean-Up Initiative (ACI) and local authorities, the campaign mobilised 516 Nestlé Cares volunteers across 11 cities, targeting high-traffic markets such as Oke-Arin Market in Lagos, Utako Market in Abuja, and Mile 3 Market in Port Harcourt. These efforts resulted in the collection of 5,601 kilograms of solid waste and 379.2 kilograms of recyclable waste, highlighting a measurable impact on waste management in these communities.
At the Lagos event, Mrs. Victoria Uwadoka, Nestlé Nigeria’s Lead for Corporate Communications, Public Affairs, and Sustainability, underscored the campaign’s alignment with this year’s World Environment Day theme, “Curbing Plastic Pollution.”
“Our commitment to fighting plastic waste is integral to our vision of a waste-free future,” Uwadoka stated.
“Through partnerships with the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) and recyclers like Alef Recycling and Wecyclers, we support circularity within the plastics value chain. Additionally, our Employee Plastics Collection Scheme (EPCS) has empowered our workforce to recycle their waste, diverting 5,922 kilograms of plastic from landfills since 2022. Collectively, our efforts have retrieved over 61,000 metric tons of plastic from the environment since 2019.”
Dr. Alex Akhigbe, Founder of the African Clean-Up Initiative, spoke about the campaign’s broader mission:
“This campaign is more than a clean-up it’s a movement grounded in collective responsibility and the circular economy. Each bottle collected and every awareness conversation contributes to fostering environmental consciousness. Our goal is to inspire a generation committed to protecting the planet.”
Nestlé Nigeria’s annual clean-up campaign exemplifies its holistic approach to sustainability, blending corporate accountability with grassroots engagement.
By addressing waste both at a systemic level and within local communities, the company demonstrates how businesses can lead in environmental stewardship while empowering communities to take ownership of change.
Nestlé Cares, the company’s employee volunteering platform, propels this mission by engaging staff in initiatives that foster lasting, positive change within communities.
