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Your trash bin scavengers are not the grubby dregs of the society you think they are. They are digging gold if you care to know, reports SIAKA MOMOH
A World Bank report estimates that at 0.51 kilogrammes of waste generated daily by each Nigerian, forecast says the quantum of waste would rise to 107 million tonnes by 2050!
Across Nigeria, tonnes of waste constitute a disgusting mess. Come to Festac for instance, waste has stripped multimillion naira worth of parcels of land of their robust value. Few months back, a N200 million Festac land deal that was almost sealed failed because a potential buyer, an oil and gas company, pulled out of the deal because the property in question is polythene-waste landfill mess and bordered left and right by parcels of land polluted with same waste.
It is however good news that in February, the Federal Ministry of Environment, the Embassy of Japan in Nigeria, and UNIDO signed a $2.8 million agreement to support government efforts to develop sustainable plastic waste management through the promotion of circular economy practices.
To throw more light on the gold value that is in waste-to-wealth business in Nigerian business space, this writer decided to dig into his archives to unveil the stout value in waste in question.
If you think those mucky men you see in your neighbourhood daily, rummaging your dustbin for items of interest are the dregs of the society, you are mistaken. These supposedly dregs of the society may not mean anything to you, but they mean a lot to the economy. Those items they sift from your trash bin are gold to them and companies that are involved in trash recycling.
The items in question are disused plastics, iron and steel scraps as well as aluminum scraps. Across metropolitan Lagos, you find centres where these scraps are sold to collectors who in turn sell them to recycling companies. Lagos-Badagry motorway, Festac area, has such centres. Scrap sales centres are also found in towns across the country. There are other better organized buyers situated in cosmopolitan Lagos and Ogun State close by. We have the likes of Frank Metals and Emeka Fred Ventures in Ikorodu, Metal World Ventures, Ijaiye-Ojokoro and Ifako-Ijaiye, G4R Mf Industries Limited, Ogudu GRA, Kosofe, New Chapter Nigeria Limited, Ojuelegba, and Josgod International Limited, Wuse II, Abuja, all involved in the business metal scrap recycling.
A kilogramme of aluminum sells for between N130 and N150, copper N700, and steel, N20. There is huge potential for this business going by Nigeria’s per capital consumption for steel and aluminum. One is discounting plastic waste here, an item that is found in large quantity in the country. The annual per capita consumption of steel and aluminum in the country is about 10kg and 0.3kg respectively. Corresponding world average in respect of both metals is 130kg and 5 kg respectively. So there is a huge gap to fill.
The federal government’s metal policy is geared towards the need to develop a vibrant metal sector where government will play the role of sole administrator and regulator, the private sector as owner-operator with a view to enabling the country become a major regional and world producer of aluminum and steel products. It is envisaged that this will lead to a production target of 500,000 tons of primary aluminum and 12 million tons of steel products by the year 2020.
Please note, as we proceed, that this story is from Siaka Momoh’s archives.
Total installed capacity for coil aluminum production in the country currently is 80,000 metric tonnes but total demand is 150,000 metric tonnes. Actual production is 29,000 metric tonnes. Industry players argue if the business environment is right, more mills will come up and Nigeria can do 200,000 metric tonnes and more, and export thereafter. And according to Foraminifera Market Research findings, it is estimated that 200,000 metric tonnes of steel product is consumed in Nigeria annually, “and since most of the country’s steel is derived from recycled material, there is constant demand for steel products”.
Local rolling mills and contending forces
Four frontline aluminum rolling mills in Nigeria are facing challenges and have cried out to government. The four include Tower Aluminum Plc, First Aluminum Plc, Qualitec Aluminum Industries Limited and Aloy Aluminum Limited. They are faced with the problem of competing with unchecked importation of cheap aluminum raw materials from Asia and South Africa; and export of scrap aluminum which they need for recycling in their plants is an additional problem for them. Jinesh Dugad, group managing director of Tower need 2000 metric tonnes of scrap iron for our operation per annum but get only 1000 metric tonnes”. Others complain of dearth of scrap aluminum too. Aluminum for instance said, “We
Export of scrap metal is on the Federal Government Export Prohibition list but it is being smuggled out of the country with impunity. Only recently, 17 Indians and their collaborators were apprehended by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) for their alleged involvement in the attempted illegal export of four container loads of aluminum scrap valued at over US$ 470 000. The arrest of the Indians came on the heels of an earlier detention of a Chinese and a Nigerian trader for their bid to export a container-load of scrap metal through one of the seaports in Lagos. The four containers in question were intercepted while they were being conveyed into the port. Tower Aluminum has an 80/20 percent mix for scrap aluminum and imported coils/ ingots.
A level of scrap scavengers has a big business opportunity in scavenging abandoned or disused second hand cars. Most Nigerians still opt for used cars. This is dictated by Nigerians’ level of income. Per capita income is about $1600.
According to C.O.A Agbo of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in a paper titled ‘Recycle Materials Potential of Imported Used Vehicles in Nigeria’, about 50,000 vehicles valued above $2,000 each were exported to Nigeria from the U.S. in 2008, based on various social sources compiled by Export Trader. And according to the Director General, National Automotive Council (NAC), Aminu Jalal, vehicles imported annually into the country are worth N487 billion. Jalal explained that a total of 80,000 new and 200,000 used vehicles were imported into Nigeria in 2008 alone.
“Nigerians mainly import low-end, eight-to-ten-year-old vehicles valued below $5,000; flooded, damaged and stolen cars – ten-year-old, are imported” said VadymKozub, director of development for Export Trader. All sorts of abandoned, discarded, wrecked, ruined, or worn out vehicles that cannot be repaired and put back into service otherwise called ‘end-of-life vehicles’ (ELV) are found in Nigeria, said Agbo. “They have value as a source of used parts, scrap material and other material for recycling and repair work. Motor vehicles are the number one recycled consumer product in the United States,” he added.
He explained, “Nearly 90 percent of automotive aluminum is recovered and re-cycled. Although this aluminum represents less than 10 percent of the average motor vehicle by weight, it accounts for roughly half of the vehicles value as scrap. Auto recyclers supply more than one-third of all ferrous scrap (iron and steel) to the U. S. scrap processing industry. When manufacturers use scrap iron and steel instead of virgin ore, they reduce air and water pollution by more than half during the manufacturing process.”
It is therefore bigger business venture going for disused vehicles – cars, buses, trucks and even aircrafts and ships. For instance, reports have it that Aayu Steel Mills may realize over N480 million from the ongoing dismantling of over 60 disused aircraft in the nation’s airports. The company is engaged by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to clear disused aircrafts from airports in the country. The aircrafts whose purchase price was valued at $2.4 billion (N379 billion) were given a scrap value of N800, 000 each. After dismantling of the abandoned aircrafts, according to Basiru Haruna, logistics officer of Aayu Steel Mills, the parts would be taken to our mills for recycling into aluminum for inward use.
Waste to wealth idea from Italy
Bi-on, a small Italian company has found a way to turn sugar beet molasses into plastic. How does it work? They mix the molasses with bacteria that feeds on sugar during fermentation. It creates lactic acid and polymers that can be used to create a biodegradable substance, a plastic called PHA.
The company’s offices are not far from Italy’s biggest sugar producer, so Bi-on has plenty of sugar beet molasses to pick up. There are other biodegradable plastics out there, but they’re often made up of food particles, not actual trash. The entire field is called bio-plastics, and the company’s new product could help the world become less dependent on the oil-based plastics we mostly use now. And one of the best features of Bi-no’s sugar beet plastic is that it can be destroyed in water, getting rid of the mounds of plastic and waste often seen floating in our lakes and oceans.
This must be good investment intelligence for our sugar industry I believe.
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Royal Garlands For PWAN Group
Davido Set To Tour North America In June
I Spent Over 7 Million Naira On My Divorce- Blessing Okoro
‘Kuchi Kuchi’ Singer, Jodie Responds To Those Who Call Her A One-hit Wonder
2023: PDP Group Warns Ayu Against Imposition of Candidates, Godfatherism
2023: Why APC Pegs Presidential Nomination Form At N100m
2023: You Can’t Force Emefiele, Malami To Resign, CCSG Cautions Group
Manchester City, Newcastle United Vying For Rangers midfielder Alex Lowry
Real Madrid have Newcastle United Star On Agenda
S’Eagles Kickoff AFCON Ticket Against Leone Stars
Adding Value To Electronic Waste
Unveiling The Gold In Waste
ETAP Secures $1.5m Pre-Seed Funding To Drive Car Insurance Penetration In Africa
Poland: Coal Mine Explosions Kill 5, Injure More Than 20
UK Allows WikiLeaks Founder Assange Extradition To US
200 Dutch Troops To Join NATO Battlegroup In Romania
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Zoning: PDP Faces Long Nights Of Uncertainty Ahead Of Convention
Presidency: My Mandate Is To Make Nigeria A Great Country — Adebayo
Royal Garlands For PWAN Group
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