- Honda and Nissan to launch merger talks
- Police arrest suspect who set woman on fire in New York subway
- China vows 'cooperation' over ship linked to severed Baltic Sea cables
- Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Luxury Western goods line Russian stores, three years into sanctions
- Wallace and Gromit return with comic warning about AI dystopia
- Philippine military says will acquire US Typhon missile system
- Afghan bread, the humble centrepiece of every meal
- Honda and Nissan expected to begin merger talks
- 'Draconian' Vietnam internet law heightens free speech fears
- Israeli women mobilise against ultra-Orthodox military exemptions
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Tens of thousands protest in Serbian capital over fatal train station accident
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- 'Who's next?': Misinformation and online threats after US CEO slaying
- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- Langers edge Tiger and son Charlie in PNC Championship playoff
- Explosive batsman Jacobs gets New Zealand call-up for Sri Lanka series
- Holders PSG edge through on penalties in French Cup
- Daniels throw five TDs as Commanders down Eagles
- Atalanta fight back to take top spot in Serie A, Roma hit five
- Mancini admits regrets over leaving Italy for Saudi Arabia
- Run machine Ayub shines as Pakistan sweep South Africa
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin
- 'Incredible' Liverpool must stay focused: Slot
- Maresca 'absolutely happy' as title-chasing Chelsea drop points in Everton draw
- Salah happy wherever career ends after inspiring Liverpool rout
- Three and easy as Dortmund move into Bundesliga top six
- Liverpool hit Spurs for six, Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth
- Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
- Ali hat-trick helps champions Ahly crush Belouizdad
- Salah stars as rampant Liverpool hit Spurs for six
- Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
- 'Sonic 3' zips to top of N.America box office
- Rome's Trevi Fountain reopens to limited crowds
- Mbappe strikes as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- Pope again condemns 'cruelty' of Israeli strikes on Gaza
- Lonely this Christmas: Vendee skippers in low-key celebrations on high seas
- Troubled Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- 2 US pilots shot down over Red Sea in 'friendly fire' incident: military
- Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth, Chelsea held at Everton
- France awaits fourth government of the year
- Death toll in Brazil bus crash rises to 41
- Odermatt stays hot to break Swiss World Cup wins record
- Neville says Rashford's career at Man Utd nearing 'inevitable ending'
- Syria's new leader vows not to negatively interfere in Lebanon
- Germany pledges security inquest after Christmas market attack
- Putin vows 'destruction' on Ukraine after Kazan drone attack
- Understated Usyk seeks recognition among boxing legends
- France awaits appointment of new government
In Nigeria, finding value in waste recycling
Mounds of waste scattered along roads and vast landfills are a Nigerian eyesore.
In Africa's biggest economy and most populous country, collecting, sorting and recycling trash is despairingly rare.
But there is also good news. Some entrepreneurs are working hard to tackle the rubbish mountain, despite the many challenges.
Romco Metals started recycling aluminium at its factory outside Lagos in 2015, drawn by global demand for the light, strong, flexible metal.
Buoyed by good results, it built a second facility outside Ghana's capital Accra and now plans to open at least three new plants across Africa and triple production by 2025.
Aluminium is the world's second most-used metal after steel and used widely in construction, medicine and car-making.
"Electric vehicles require more durable lighter material such as aluminium, and that’s where our materials end up," said the company's youthful founder, 32-year-old Raymond Onovwigun.
- Job creation -
A British-registered company, Romco melts down and recycles around 1,500 tonnes of discarded aluminium per month, out of a capacity of 3,000 tonnes.
It says it has created 450 direct jobs -- 5,000 in total, in this labour-intensive sector -- and plans to double that number within a year.
"Before... there was no work," community leader Bankole Gbenga known as Chief Abore told AFP during a recent visit to the Lagos facility.
Chief Abore says more than a hundred young people from his community alone now work for Romco in some capacity.
"Some are doing carpentry, some are welders... some of the youth are doing security," said the 40-year-old.
Among those who have most benefited from Romco’s business are material suppliers like Mohammed Ashiru Madugu, who delivers several truckloads of metal scrap each week.
Madugu has a warehouse in northwestern Katsina, where suppliers from across the state and even neighbouring states bring him discarded metal.
He loads the goods onto trucks and sends them -– with escorts because of frequent ambushes by criminal gangs on the road –- all the way to Lagos, more than a thousand kilometres (600 miles) away.
For one truck, he can get paid up to 26 million naira (about $60,000 dollars) although the price fluctuates.
- Vast problem -
Only a tiny fraction of waste is recycled in Nigeria, a country of some 210 million consumers.
Plastic, metal and glass that in advanced economies are routinely picked up and processed are mostly tossed out.
Each year, Nigeria disgorges 200,000 tonnes of plastic into the Atlantic, the UN Industrial Development Organisation reported last year.
In Lagos alone, a city of more than 20 million people, less than 10 percent total recyclables are currently collected, Ibrahim Adejuwon Odumboni, managing director of the Lagos State Management Agency told AFP.
By comparison, in the UK, more than 41 percent of waste picked up by local authorities was recycled last year, according to British statistics.
For Odumboni, recycling initiatives are to be commended but more should be done by the companies making aluminium beverage cans and other products.
"We need the manufacturers to invest in the collection system. In many parts of the world, a portion of what producers sell is going into the recovery of products. We currently don't have that in Nigeria," he said.
If companies selling aluminium products "are not held responsible (for collecting waste) then it doesn’t make any sense -- we're just going round and round in circle."
He blames poor legislation but says an improved law on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is currently being discussed in the state house of assembly.
EPR is an environmental policy in place in many countries that gives producers incentives to take responsibility for their products after they are used.
Another challenge for recyclers is carbon emissions from the energy they use to crush, shred or melt old materials.
Romco, for instance, uses compressed natural gas to turn the aluminium into ingots.
"(It) is still a fossil fuel but the best, most efficient fossil fuel. It doesn’t contain lead or sulphur," said Onovwigun.
The company says, however, that it wants to be independent of fossil fuels and is "exploring the potential of using solar, green hydrogen, and biofuels."
L.Henrique--PC