Plastic pollution is a menace to both humans and the environment. Its impacts include human and public health problems, marine pollution, and environmental disasters such as floods resulting from blocked drainages. In Nigeria, plastic pollution is significant, with plastics accounting for 13% of the country’s total solid waste, according to a 2021 study by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). However, it is not all gloom and doom as young Nigerians are stepping up to tackle the menace of plastic pollution using circular business models. These young circular entrepreneurs operating in Lagos state were the target of the Circular Lagos project.
The Circular Lagos project is a German Development Cooperation (GIZ) – sponsored project through its SEDIN program in Nigeria. The Circular Lagos project aimed to support businesses in the circular economy value chain and promote circular economy concepts in Lagos state. The project stems from the collaboration between GIZ-SEDIN and the Circular Economy Innovation Partnership (CEIP) with the alliance of the Lagos State government.
In April 2022, GIZ-SEDIN contracted Dev-Afrique to evaluate and document success stories from the Circular Lagos project. Dev-Afrique conducted the end-to-end evaluation of the project which included – a podcast, a website, a hackathon (the Circular Lagos challenge), a business incubator program (the LoopLab), and a research fellowship. The evaluation captured the progress and results of the project, as well as performance and programmatic insights. Analytics data on the website, social media, and podcast was also captured to provide insights and support the Circular Lagos awareness objectives. The evaluation findings were documented in two formats- an evaluation report and a success story report.
The Circular Lagos project is GIZ-SEDIN’s first investment in the circular economy and plastic value chain. Findings from the evaluation provided insights to GIZ-SEDIN and its implementing partners on successful elements of the program and areas for improvement. It also provided actionable insights to inform program design for subsequent editions of the project. The success stories of supported entrepreneurs who were part of the project were captured in a short documentary which can be viewed here.
