The Digital Solution to Lagos’s Waste Crisis: Can Blockchain Clean Up the City
By Matin Animashaun, Oluchukwu Nwabuikwu
Lagos, Nigeria’s bustling economic hub and second most populous state, faces a mountain of a problem—literally. The city’s waste management system is struggling to keep pace with its rapidly growing population, which expands by about 1.2 million people per year as highlighted by the United Nations’ Environment Programme.
While the state government’s official figures suggest Lagos generates between 13,000 to 14,000 tonnes of waste daily (nearly 5 million tonnes a year), a 2025 analysis by two environmental experts revealed that only one third of this is collected by the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA). This is part of a larger national challenge, as Nigeria collects less than 20% of the 32 million tonnes of annual solid waste it generates, significantly lower than the World Bank’s estimated average waste collection rate in sub Saharan Africa of about 44%. Experts also expect countries like Nigeria to generate three times more waste by 2050.
The city’s waste challenge is compounded by two major issues. First, the problem of inaccurate data. The government acknowledged in 2018 that the amount of waste generated far exceeded the official figure of 13,000 tonnes per day, and this lack of clear data makes effective management difficult. Second, the issue of poor waste hierarchy. According to a 2022 research article by Kehinde Allen-Taylor, Lagos skips critical steps in the waste hierarchy like prevention and recycling and proceeds straight to disposal. This systemic inefficiency has led to a massive informal waste economy taking over where official services fail.
Waste hierarchy by the European Commission’s Waste Framework Directive
LAWMA and its private service providers (PSPs) have attempted solutions. In February 2022, the state launched the “Adopt A Bin” programme to enhance waste management. This initiative saw 40,000 standard waste bins (green for general, blue for recyclables) delivered to homes and businesses to promote sorting at the source. However, the bins were too expensive for many, and a major issue persists: PSPs are known to ignore low-income areas because these communities are less profitable, leading to “black spots” of uncollected waste.
The Blockchain Solution
Nigeria’s launch of the Nigerian Circular Economy Program (NCEP) in 2024 has led stakeholders to consider blockchain technology. While often associated with cryptocurrencies, a blockchain’s core function as a distributed, immutable ledger offers a powerful solution to Lagos’s problems. First, it offers accountability. All waste collection activities, including those by LAWMA officials and the 364 PSPs, will be recorded on a decentralised database, which will stop private service providers from altering their data and keep them accountable for collecting waste in low-income areas. Second, it can provide accurate data. Its real-time tracking, similar to what the Berlin-based environmental technology company Cleanhub uses, could provide precise, auditable statistics on the volume and condition of waste collected. According to one report, Cleanhub has collected over 21 million kilograms of plastic waste as of October 2025. In Lagos, local companies like Motex Africa are already exploring this technology.
Challenges to Viability
The success of blockchain is conditional on addressing several major hurdles. Cost and scalability are significant concerns. Integrating this technology is very expensive, which is a major factor as Lagos State struggles to meet its internally generated revenue target for 2025. Furthermore, scaling a blockchain network to a city of over 20 million people can be technologically challenging and slow. Regulatory gaps are also a problem, as there are currently no local laws to compel stakeholders like PSPs to fully comply with blockchain-based reporting. Finally, data privacy conflicts pose a threat. Blockchain’s immutability clashes with Nigeria’s data protection laws, specifically the consumer’s “right to erasure”, as residents may not want their waste data permanently recorded on a publicly accessible database.
Ultimately, strong political will, adequate funding, public education, and regulatory frameworks are key. Most importantly, any system must integrate the informal waste workers who sustain much of Lagos’s recycling economy. If Lagos can address these prerequisites, the transparency and real-time tracking of blockchain could transform the state’s waste management system.
