By Abbas Nazil
The global beverage industry’s public image as an environmental defender has come under scrutiny as critics accuse major producers of masking their harmful practices with green campaigns and photo-driven corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects.
In Nigeria, the industry often showcases beach cleanups and recycling drives, but behind these polished efforts lies a deeper crisis of plastic pollution and public health damage.
According to USAID, Nigeria ranks ninth globally in plastic pollution, producing about 2.5 million tonnes annually, with 88 percent unrecycled.
Lagos alone contributes about 870,000 tonnes yearly, and much of this waste comes from single-use plastics like polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles produced by beverage companies.
Globally, multinational soda firms are among the top plastic polluters, with an estimated 21 to 34 billion PET bottles entering the oceans in 2018 alone.
Experts warn that these companies contribute heavily to carbon emissions through bottle production, transportation, and disposal, while shifting the blame to consumers for “littering.”
Although Nigeria’s government has launched an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework to compel manufacturers to finance waste recovery, weak enforcement and poor infrastructure continue to undermine its effectiveness.
The country aims to increase recycled PET content in bottles from 3 percent to 25 percent by 2029, but recycling facilities remain concentrated in a few cities, leaving rural areas without proper waste management systems.
Meanwhile, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are worsening Nigeria’s health crisis, contributing to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, which account for 29 percent of national deaths.
Health experts say the N10-per-litre SSB tax remains too low to curb consumption, unlike countries such as Mexico and South Africa, where higher taxes led to significant declines in sugary drink intake and reformulated products.
Advocates argue that Nigeria must combine strict taxation, plastic regulation, and expanded recycling infrastructure to address the dual threats of pollution and poor health.
Without strong government action and corporate accountability, they warn, beverage companies’ environmental gestures will remain little more than public relations tactics disguised as sustainability.
