Innovative solution: Nigerian fourth-grader’s education funded by recycling waste

Nigerian fourth-grader Fawas Adeosun often used to get sent home from school through the gritty streets of Lagos because his mother, Fatimoh, had not paid his fees, until he enrolled in a different school offering a novel solution.

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Elizabeth Samuel, 37, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable waste as payment, arranges used plastic bottles into a sack in her home in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

My Dream Stead school, in the sprawling, impoverished Ajegunle neighborhood where the Adeosuns live, is one of 40 low-cost schools in Nigeria’s commercial capital that accept recyclable waste as payment.

A recyclable waste collector weighs a sack of plastic containers submitted by Fatimoh Adeosun, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable waste as payment, in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

For the past four years, a local environmental organization called African Cleanup Initiative has been collecting bottles, cans, drink cartons and plastic containers brought into the schools by parents and selling them to recyclers.

Elizabeth Samuel, 37, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable wastes as payment, carries sacks of plastic waste for submission in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

The proceeds of the sales pay for teacher salaries, children’s uniforms, books and pens, among other expenses.

The scheme aims to reduce the number of children out of school as well as the amount of trash on the streets of Lagos, said Alexander Akhigbe, founder of the environmental group.

Students attend classes at My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable waste as payment, in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

Tuition fees at My Dream Stead stand at $130 per year and the school is expanding into a second apartment block to accommodate its 120 students. Only seven children were enrolled when it opened in 2019.

Fatimoh Adeosun, 48, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable wastes as payment, sorts plastic waste for submission, in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

Some mornings, Fatimoh and Fawas walk to the school together with bulging sacks of trash over their shoulders. The waste is weighed on school premises and its sales value added to Fawas’ account.

“Sometimes if he wants to buy sportswear, the school will tell me the amount I need to bring,” said Fatimoh, a 48-year-old hairdresser who cares for six children on her own.

Fatimoh Adeosun, 48, a parent of a student of My Dream Stead, a low-cost school that accepts recyclable wastes as payment, sorts plastic waste for submission, in Ajegunle, Lagos, Nigeria May 19, 2023. (REUTERS)

Providing for Fawas, the youngest, has been particularly difficult since she was forced to vacate the room she used as a salon in 2018.

“When I discovered that they could collect the plastics from me to keep my child in school, it made my burden lighter,” she said as she scoured bins on the streets for recyclables on her way back from the school.

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