Plastics emit greenhouse gasses as they decompose and are environmentally costly to manage. In the city of Calabar, plastics account for over 40% (~80% PET bottles) of the waste reaching Lemna, the only solid waste dumpsite in the city which is already over capacity. As a result, plastic waste including PET bottles is either burnt or dumped in major water bodies, canals, street corners and drainage systems, thus negatively impacting marine ecosystems and further contributing to increased emissions due to improper disposal. Additionally, only a tiny fraction of the plastics are reused or recycled. Given the contributions of plastic waste to climate change, the high generation of plastic waste in Calabar, as well as the inadequate waste management infrastructure in the city, there is, therefore, an urgent need for a comprehensive and sustainable solution that promotes awareness creation, community engagement, and environmentally sound waste management.

What is the project's target group?

Residents/community members of Calabar city.

What is the project's proposed solution?

Our solution incorporates an incentivized plastic bottle retrieval scheme for communities susceptible to poor waste infrastructure reach. The system enables citizens to return sorted PET bottles for recycling, and in return receive small financial and non-financial rewards.

What are the project short and long-term goals?

Short Term Goals:

• To eliminate the frequent siting of plastics in waste drainages across the aforementioned 3 zones in the first 6 months.


• To fully implement the zero waste system across 3 zones and 2 schools.


• To increase plastic bottle recycling rates in Calabar Metropolis by 10% within the first 6 months of the project.


• To create awareness in the community about the dangers of indiscriminate waste disposal with emphasis on plastic waste.


• To recycle 5tons of plastic waste within the first phase of the project cycle. Medium Term Goal.


• To decrease the amount of PET bottles at the Lemna Dumpsite by 20% within the initial 6 months by collecting 20,000 of them.


• To contribute to the reduction of the emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) into the atmosphere.


• To promote community transition from plastic packaging to sustainable packaging • To reach and directly impact 350-500 people socio-economically Long Term Goal.


• To extend the boundaries of Zero-Waste to other local government areas in Cross River state.


• To set up a functional waste beneficiation facility in calabar.

What are the project's available metrics?

The proposed Project activities and milestones are;

• Implementation of a Community-Based Plastic Bottle Collection System: To reduce the amount of disposed PET bottles at the Lemna Dumpsite, a community-based collection system will be established.


• Establishing partnership with Recycling companies and community members.


• Conduct Educational Awareness Campaigns on zero waste in Calabar city.


• Review and Evaluation on these metrics;


• Monthly collection of minimum of 3300 plastic bottles from green ambassadors.


• Recycling of the plastics bottles.


• Providing Financial and non-financial incentives support to the Green ambassadors.


• Monitoring of the process and impact of the project.


• Evaluation, Reporting and Dissemination of the impact of the project to relevant stakeholders.

Who are the project collaborators, if any?

According to our preliminary survey, 82% of responses attributed poor waste infrastructure as one of the external factors leading to improper waste disposal by burning or dumping. Our project seeks to implement a plastic bottle deposit scheme and a city-wide recycling program to address the issues outlined in our problem statement. The names of our proposed partners are; Green Concern for Development (GREENCODE), Recycling company, Community leaders in Lemna and Henshaw town, Union leaders in Watt Market and the Ministry of Environment, Cross River State, Nigeria.