About Us
Turning Lagos's Waste Into Wealth.
Westman Recycle NG is one of the fastest-rising recycling operations in Lagos built to be a partner in the recycling supply chain, not just another buyer moving materials through it.
It Started With a Flood.
In 2019, Westman's founder was living in an estate in Lagos when a flood damaged one of his vehicles. Instead of writing it off as bad luck, he went looking for the actual cause and found it in the estate's gutters, clogged with plastic bottles and other recyclable waste that had nowhere else to go.
So he started picking the bottles up himself. What began as one man clearing his own estate's drains turned into something bigger the moment he found people willing to buy what he'd collected. That discovery sent him deeper into research on PET bottle collection and recycling research that, by 2020, had become Westman Recycle: a business that started life operating out of a gateman's house.
A Flood, and a Question
A flood damages the founder's vehicle in his estate. Investigating the cause leads him to gutters blocked with plastic bottles and recyclable waste.
Westman Recycle Is Born
What started as one man clearing his estate's drains becomes a business launched from a gateman's house.
Technology & Scale
Westman partners with a technology company to digitize household collection, and with a top off-taker who also provides machinery to move more volume, faster.
100–200 Tons a Month
By the end of 2022, Westman is collecting between 100 and 200 tons of recyclable material every month.
A Full Factory
From a gateman's house to a full recycling factory over 100 direct employees, and more than 2,000 waste pickers empowered.
Then, in 2021, we did something no other recycling centre in Lagos had done before — we partnered with a technology company to become the first to use technology to collect recyclable waste directly from households. What started as a bold experiment became the foundation of everything we've built since.
That growth didn't happen by accident. It came from serious local empowerment and identifying the right people for the job building genuine relationships with the waste pickers, agents, and aggregators who make daily collection possible, rather than simply extracting value from them.
We've built an end-to-end approach to plastic bottle recovery and recycling, and we've leveraged our relationship with Nigeria's largest off-taker to help move processed plastic waste to recyclers across the continent. Today, we're working alongside roughly 2,000 individual waste collectors across Lagos.
Why It Matters
- Lagos residents generate an estimated 0.75kg of waste per person, every day (World Bank).
- Of the roughly 3.6 million tons of waste generated annually, our target is to recover about 38,400 tons of recyclable material.
- We're a technology-driven recycling operation providing end-to-end solutions helping our partners convert waste into real income.
The Way Lagos Handles Waste Today Isn't Working.
Most of the current system is built around disposal, not recovery and that gap is exactly where Westman operates.
Linear Disposal
Households dump waste in bins and wait for private companies to collect it and take it straight to landfills with no recovery step in between.
Landfill Sourcing
Most recyclers buy their materials from landfills after the fact, rather than intercepting recyclables before they're wasted.
Price Wars
Without capacity building across the industry, recyclers end up competing on price rather than growing the market together.
Fast, Transparent, and Built Around Our Collectors.
We call it Earn As You Waste — A system designed around digital collection, reliable logistics, and real partnerships, not just pickup runs.
Digital Collection
Every pickup is scheduled, tracked, and confirmed digitally no guesswork about when a rider is coming.
Fast, Transparent Pickup
Materials are weighed and valued transparently on the spot, with payment following a clear, consistent process.
Rapid Response
If a worker or rider isn't performing, we can reassign within 24 hours reliability isn't optional in this business.
Bank Partnerships
We've built relationships with banks to support advance payment, helping collectors and aggregators keep cash flowing.
Beyond PET — A Full Range of Recyclables.
What started as a PET bottle operation has grown into a much wider recycling network.
Working With Institutions That Believe in the Mission.
Beyond day-to-day collection, we've partnered with major organisations to strengthen recycling infrastructure across Lagos.
Coca-Cola Growing Business Foundation Project
Partnered with the Coca-Cola Growing Business Foundation to strengthen recycling infrastructure and grow local collection capacity.
TechnoServe / USAID Project
Working with TechnoServe and USAID on a multi-year initiative supporting recycling supply chain development.
FBRA Alliance Receptacle Empowerment
Partnered with the FBRA Alliance to distribute recycling receptacles and expand structured collection points across communities.
Awards & Recognition
Recycler of the Year — RAN (2024)
Recognised by the Recyclers Association of Nigeria as Recycler of the Year.
Recyclers Champion of the Year — RAN (2023)
Awarded by the Recyclers Association of Nigeria for outstanding contribution to the sector.
Rite Innovation Series Winner (2023)
Recognised for innovation in the recycling and waste management space.
Rites Food Innovation Award
Awarded for our innovative approach to recycling solutions.
Join the Westman Network
Whether you're a household, business, estate, agent, or rider — there's a place for you in Lagos's fastest-growing recycling network.
5000+
TONS of PET Bottles collected+
2000
Waste pickers
10000
Household collection
2020
Year Founded