By Faridat Salifu
As communities across the world prepare to clean streets, markets and public spaces on World Cleanup Day, environmental concerns around Nigeria’s waste crisis are drawing attention to a less visible problem — food that is produced, transported, sold and prepared only to end up in the waste stream.
World Cleanup Day, observed on September 20, is being marked this year with a focus on food waste under the theme “From Clean Plates to Clean Cities,” highlighting the link between what is wasted on plates and the growing burden placed on cities’ waste-management systems. (United Nations)
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that 1.05 billion tonnes of food were wasted globally in 2022 across households, food services and retail, equivalent to about 19 per cent of food available to consumers. The agency says food loss and waste also contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and wastes the land, water and other resources used to produce food. (UNEP – UN Environment Programme)
For Nigeria, the challenge is not simply about what happens when discarded food reaches a dumpsite. It begins much earlier — with produce damaged during transportation, food that spoils before it reaches consumers, unsold market goods and meals that are prepared but never eaten.
Data compiled by UNEP show that available Nigerian studies have recorded varying levels of household food waste in different locations, including Sapele, Bida, Port Harcourt, Jos and Lagos. The figures differ considerably because the studies were conducted in different locations and using different methods, underscoring the need for stronger and more consistent national measurement of food waste. (WeDocs)
In Jos, for instance, a study involving 74 households in six low-income areas measured household waste for one week and found an estimated food-waste figure of 50 kilogrammes per person annually. UNEP cautioned that the study was limited to low-income areas and therefore should not be treated as representative of the wider country. (WeDocs)
The absence of comprehensive data makes it difficult to determine precisely how much food Nigeria loses or wastes each year and where the greatest losses occur.
Yet the environmental consequences are clearer.
When food is discarded with other municipal waste and eventually decomposes under landfill conditions, it can contribute to methane emissions. At the same time, the water, land, energy and labour used to produce food that is never eaten are effectively wasted.
UNEP says food loss and waste accounts for 8–10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, while food waste also occupies agricultural land and consumes resources used in food production. (UNEP – UN Environment Programme)
The problem also exposes a contradiction within the food system: food is being wasted while millions of people struggle to afford adequate and nutritious meals.
But environmental experts say the answer cannot simply be to organise more cleanup exercises.
Rather, waste management must begin with prevention, followed by recovery and proper treatment of unavoidable waste.
UNEP’s approach to food waste reduction places emphasis on measuring where waste occurs and developing solutions across households, retail and food-service sectors. The agency also identifies reuse, redistribution, composting and other forms of organic-waste recovery as part of the transition towards more circular food systems. (UNEP – UN Environment Programme)
For Nigeria, this could mean strengthening systems that allow surplus but edible food to reach people who need it, improving storage and transportation infrastructure, encouraging businesses to monitor food waste, separating organic waste from plastics and other materials, and expanding composting and other recovery options.
At markets, restaurants and homes, preventing food from becoming waste in the first place could ultimately have a greater environmental impact than simply collecting it after it has already been discarded.
World Cleanup Day therefore presents an opportunity to ask a broader question about Nigeria’s approach to waste: what if the cleanest waste is the waste that never reaches the bin?
As communities take to the streets on September 20, the cleanup could be more than a one-day exercise. It could also prompt a conversation about how Nigeria produces, distributes, consumes and disposes of food — and whether its cities are prepared to manage the waste generated along the way.
