By Chioma Obinna

On this year’s World Environment Day, Nestlé Nigeria has strengthened its environmental stewardship with a nationwide clean-up and community sensitisation initiative, emphasising corporate and community collaboration to tackle plastic pollution.

The campaign, in partnership with the African Clean-Up Initiative (ACI) and local authorities, mobilided 516 Nestlé Cares volunteers across 11 cities, focusing on high-footfall markets like Oke-Arin Market in Lagos, Utako Market in Abuja, and Mile 3 Market in Port Harcourt.

These strategic efforts resulted in the removal of 5,601 kilograms of solid waste and 379.2 kilograms of recyclable waste, showcasing a tangible impact on waste management in these communities.

At the Lagos activation, Nestlé Nigeria’s Lead for Corporate Communications, Public Affairs, and Sustainability, Mrs. Victoria Uwadoka, emphasised the initiative’s alignment with the 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.”

The Founder of the African Clean-Up Initiative, Dr. Alex Akhigbe highlighted the initiative’s broader vision.

“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 reflects its integrated approach to sustainability, merging corporate accountability with grassroots engagement.

By tackling waste at both systemic and community levels, the company demonstrates how businesses can lead in environmental stewardship while empowering communities to take action.

Nestlé Cares, the company’s employee volunteering platform, drives this mission by engaging staff in impactful initiatives that create lasting change in local communities.