This article will give you an idea of what you should know in order to start a waste management business in Nigeria. It covers the industry overview, startup cost, and step-by-step guide. We’ll also throw in some other factors you should know before venturing into this business.
You often see garbage in the streets and rivers; ignore it. This ignorance shields you from the profitable business opportunity of waste management. These common problems indicate an inadequacy of businesses to bring solutions.
Every business must offer a solution else; it isn’t worth investments. Hence, the importance of learning how to start a waste management business in Nigeria.
What’s exciting is that this opportunity is open to everyone. The state government knows that the public disposal agency can’t do the job alone, so they welcome the services of the private partners to ease the job.
This business, though seemingly dirty, has what it takes to make you immensely rich as not so many are looking in its direction. It is one of the best-untapped business ideas in Nigeria in this 21st century.
What most people don’t know is no waste is absolute waste. Animal dung is used as fertilizers; plastics and polyethylene can be recycled to make other plastic products. So, the next time you see those plastic drink bottles and the rest in your gutters, what you are seeing is huge money.
Table of Contents
Types Of Waste
Before we reveal the entire process, you should note the type of wastes available that you can process to reusable goods.
Liquid waste
These are wastes that are not solid, but they are in the form of fluid. Most of our solid wastes are converted to liquid waste to aid easy disposal, and some liquids are converted to solid for fast and easy disposal. It all depends on the kind of resources been used. For example, waste resources from washing water are derived from residential houses and factories, etc.
Solid waste
As you already know, the opposite of liquid is always solid. This type of waste can be produced anywhere like our homes, offices, factories, markets, farms. Solid Wastes are the most common waste globally because most of it consists of worn-out tires, animal dung, animal bones, decayed iron, etc.
Hazardous waste
This is a very dangerous waste product that can cause harm to those in the environment.
Hazardous waste can take different forms. They could either be inflammable (can easily catch fire), corrosive (can quickly eat through metal, toxic (poisonous). Some of these hazardous waste affects the ozone layer by gradually depleting it.
Examples of hazardous waste are pesticides, insecticides, old fluorescent bulbs, aerosol cans, fire extinguishers, old batteries, and mercury-containing equipment.
Tons of waste is generated in the country every day, and the waste management business is rising very fast in Nigeria because it looks stressful, dirty but profitable. Not only that, people who get involved in this type of work receive accolades from people because it allows the environment to be free from harmful waste materials that can cause pollution and harm human health.
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Imagine if no waste management is committed to erasing waste from our environment, most of us won’t be convenient in our place of work simply because there will be a different kind of odour from our environment which are poisonous for our health and our roads won’t be conducive to pass through and at times it leads to erosion.
The Ultimate Guide To A Lucrative Waste Recycling Business In Nigeria
Waste management might seem like a complicated task, but it’s not difficult at all. It is surely one of the easiest businesses you can start in Nigeria.
Waste management has become a necessity, which gives you room for expansion. Here, the idea is to show you how simple it is to start a waste management business in Nigeria.
Suppose you are looking for a money-spinning business opportunity in Nigeria. Waste management is one of the most profitable businesses you can start. Most people frown at the idea of starting a waste management business, but you shouldn’t be afraid to start it. If you search online, many people are doing it and earning big bucks from it.
This is how you can start the waste management business and earn from it.
1. Develop a Business Plan
Having a business plan is a very vital thing you must do when setting up a waste management business. You can define your objectives in the short, medium, and long term, in addition to the tools and equipment that you will initially need, toiletries, financing, and the initial investment capital, among other points.
Data shows that the volume of solid wastes generated in an urban area is directly proportional to its population.
This means that – the more people – the more volume of solid waste they generate and the more need for a Waste Management Company (WMC).
The business plan will be the basis of your business from beginning to end, from the planning process to the startup of the activity.
2. Find A Niche
The waste management business is not a competitive business venture. Therefore, if you are starting small, it is advisable to find a niche that is in high demand for the types of waste mentioned above.
You cannot know the waste management types that are in high demand without thorough research to investigate the kind of waste material that already exists in your area and to be able to know how it works and the system they use.
You can start the following waste management businesses in Nigeria, but you must partner with some recycling companies to earn more because not all waste is waste. Developed countries understand this more than we do.
- Collection of solid waste from our environments.
This is a typical but not so competitive waste management business. Many equipment and laborers are needed to ease the work.
This deals with collecting the garbage and waste by residential environments, seeking ways to ensure clean environments. You can render waste management services to estates and other serene environments. This type of business requires going from one area to another with a truck to get people’s waste products for a fee.
- Collection of waste materials that can recycle.
This type of niche is based on collecting waste products that can recycle. Most of our villages and some towns are filled with people that recycled companies send to get waste materials like bottles, irons, clothes to be recycled.
- Mobile Toilet Rental Business
Renting of mobile toilets in public areas by people who work in companies or by people on their way to churches has increased. Imagine if someone stranded in the market and looking for where to defecate fortunately finds a mobile toilet to rent for a little fee. This is a lucrative business if you ask me.
- Collection of electronic wastes.
This deals with collecting electronic waste such as phones, gadgets, televisions, radios, computers, etc. These items are demanded by manufacturers of electronics and are willing to pay high costs for them.
- Disposal of medical and hazardous wastes.
This type of niche and people are needed in medical centers to dispose of medical wastes such as syringes, cotton wools, bandages, gloves. Most government medical centers (most private hospitals are not capable of paying) are looking for reliable sources that will aid in the disposal of these wastes without polluting the environment.
3. Finance Your Waste Collection and Management Business
You may require significant capital for a startup to start a standard and well-equipped waste collection and management business in this present economy. Because you need to serve your business location well, you may talk with some recycling company to earn more money.
Securing land, a truck, and purchasing equipment will consume a lot of money, but you don’t have enough money. You can start by renting some equipment and pay later. Or better still, try out other possible means to raise startup capital in Nigeria.
Without a doubt, as you have read above, when it comes to financing a business, one of the first things and perhaps the main factors that you should consider is writing a good business plan. If you have a good, workable business plan, it will be easy for you.
4. Secure a Business Location
Starting a business as a waste collection and management company comes with its challenges; It is a business that you cannot start in any location of your choice. Undoubtedly, you can start operating in the cities’ interior because that is where the greatest amount of waste is generated. It is not like villages where one can quickly burn it.
Your business location must have a small office so that your customer can call and make inquiries about your services.
The location you chose to start your waste collection and management company is key to the business’s success. Have you heard a saying that goes thus, “your location determines your allocation?”. This is also applicable in the waste management business.
5. Budget Fees and Costs
In this sense, I refer to your business’s income and profits and where they will come from. If conditions allow it, you can start making yourself known by offering the service for a small fee.
You can also request a monthly charge for the home collection of your recyclable waste. You can, for example, go through each week and charge a fee at the end of the month. It is then possible to get some subsidies provided by the public administration.
This is the estimation of the income if you charge #1,000 per house for a month.
Assuming you can reach out to 500 houses in your business location and you charge #1,000 each. That will be #500,000 in a month. And you know you won’t be doing this alone.
- Fuel per Month: #10,000
- Workers (Assuming you have 5 laborers): #100,000
- Vehicle servicing: #20,000
- Miscellaneous: #10,000
- Total #140,000
Indeed, making #360,000 a month from waste collection and management is not a waste.
6. Plan Business Promotion
This type of business idea is undoubtedly one of the least and non-professional jobs in people’s view.
It is also one of the most appreciated and attractive for many people because the news we see and hear daily about the effect of keeping waste around the house or dumping anywhere can cause. So, this makes this job to be highly demanding.
- Use digital and print media.
- Use flyers, social media, websites, and business cards to make you look more professional.
- Don’t go anywhere without your business card. It is your C.V (Curriculum vitae).
7. Register Your Business
Lastly, however, still very important. Ensure you register your business with C.A.C to avoid public harassment by government officials.
Registering your business with C.A.C (Corporate Affairs Commission) will allow you to operate anywhere in Nigeria. Use a unique name that the public will be able to pronounce and memorize. This allows your business to be trustworthy and very reliable.
That’s all you need to know to run a profitable and successful waste management business in Nigeria.
Entrepreneurship is about solving problems. Mostly in Nigeria, there is an epidemic of waste management problems. That is an opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity by creating solutions that tackle the waste collection and management problem.
Nevertheless, don’t do this alone without partnering with the government in your business location to avoid being banned. Know how it works. Some states will give you a fee you must be paying every month. Make sure you know how it works in your state before embarking on the journey.
