The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) said it is taking steps to formally integrate the informal sector into the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programme.

Mrs Nwamaka Ejiofor, NESREA’s Assistant Director of Press, disclosed this in a statement issued on Thursday in Abuja.

She said the integration would be achieved through a cooperative-led model designed to bring small-scale waste actors into structured cooperatives.

Ejiofor said the Director-General of NESREA, Prof. Innocent Barikor, made the remarks during a virtual stakeholder sensitisation programme on the Cooperative-Led EPR Model.

Barikor said the initiative was aimed at making the EPR ecosystem more inclusive by incorporating informal waste collectors, sorters and recyclers into the formal system.

According to him, this would give stakeholders access to governance structures, financing, social protection and environmental compliance support.

“The Cooperative-Led EPR Model presents an opportunity to organise waste actors into recognised cooperatives, provide them with legal identity, digital inclusion, financial access and social protection,” he said.

Barikor added that the model would also strengthen national EPR implementation and improve environmental data systems.

He described the initiative as both a social and economic transformation strategy.

He explained that through cooperative structures, digital onboarding platforms, traceability systems and a proposed Cooperative Passport framework, informal workers could gradually transition into formal economic participation, with improved access to enterprise support and financial literacy.

In a presentation, Dr Peter Ayim, Chief Steward of the Nigeria Environmental Stewardship Cooperative Society (NESCOOP), said the framework offers Nigeria a scalable and inclusive pathway to a circular economy.

Ayim said the cooperative-led approach would address key challenges facing informal waste workers, including lack of formal recognition, economic vulnerability, occupational hazards, health and safety risks, and social exclusion.

He noted that global experience shows cooperative-led systems remain one of the most effective ways to integrate informal waste actors into structured EPR frameworks while delivering environmental sustainability and inclusive economic growth.