The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) has reaffirmed steps to formally integrate the informal sector of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Programme, through a Co-operative-Led Model that brings in small scale actors into cooperatives.

Director General of NESREA, Prof. Innocent Barikor made the assertion during a stakeholder sensitization programme, in Abuja on the Cooperative-Led Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Model as a Formalization Strategy for the Informal Sector.

Barikor also said the initiative aims to make the EPR ecosystem inclusive by bringing informal waste collectors, sorters, and recyclers into the formal system, giving them access to governance structures, financing, social protection, and environmental compliance support.

“The Cooperative-Led EPR Model presents an opportunity to organize waste actors into recognized cooperatives, provide them with legal identity, digital inclusion, financial access and social protection, while simultaneously strengthening national EPR implementation and environmental data systems,” he stated.

He described the model as a social and economic transformation strategy through cooperative structures, digital on boarding platforms, traceability systems and the proposed Cooperative Passport framework, informal workers can gradually transition into formal economic participants with access to enterprise support.

Chief Steward of the Nigeria Environmental Stewardship Cooperative Society, Dr. Peter Ayim, in a presentation, said the framework provides Nigeria a pathway for scalable, inclusive circular economy as well as financial literacy, health insurance, equipment leasing and other empowerment opportunities.

Dr. Ayim stressed that the cooperative-led model will address the structural challenges faced by informal waste workers such as their lack of formal recognition, economic vulnerability, occupational hazards, health and safety risks, and social exclusion.

“Some countries implementing the model including Brazil, Colombia, India, South Africa , and European Union member states. Global experience confirms that systems are the most effective pathway for integrating informal waste actors into structured EPR frameworks, delivering both environmental sustainability and inclusive economic growth.”

Present at the Virtual meeting were key players in the EPR Value chain, including the Recyclers Association of Nigeria (RAN), Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA), E-Waste Producers Responsibility Organization of Nigeria (EPRON), Rural Women Energy Security (RUWES), among others.