NESREA DG TASKS PRIVATE SECTOR ON CIRCULAR ECONOMY

The Director General of the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, Prof. Aliyu Jauro says the private sector has all it takes to champion the circular economy model in the country.

Prof. Jauro who spoke as a panelist at the Sustainability Webinar organized by Lafarge Africa PLC said, “the private sector is well positioned to take a leading role in creating new business value and bolstering competitive agility in the circular economy.”

He urged operators in the sector to come up with novelties to drive circular economy, saying, “they should assume the role of corporate change agent responsible for driving circular innovations with creativity.”

The NESREA DG also said the Extended Producer Responsibility Programme being implemented in Nigeria serves to promote circular economy by implementing the 5Rs, namely, reduce, reuse, repair, recover and recycle. This he said has enormous benefits for job creation by treating waste as a resource.

He listed areas of EPR application in Nigeria to include: road construction, energy generation in cement industry for firing their kilns, production of inter-locking tiles/ bricks, arts and crafts industry, Production of bed covers from pet bottles, production of granules from sachet/water as raw materials for other uses, production of face shield frames from caps of pet bottles and pyrolysis.

The Circular Economy model  encourages zero waste by ensuring that products at the end of their life cycle become raw materials for other products rather than ending up in the waste dump.