About 40 tons of plastic waste has been removed by Rite Foods Limited in Lagos through the award-winning Riteonthebeach project.
The campaign was carried out in partnership with Pop Beach Club, a renowned Lagos eco-resort, with support from the Office of the Special Adviser to the Governor on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
The clearing of the Lagos environment of the waste items is a bold demonstration of the commitment of the market leader in the food and beverage sector in Nigeria to environmental stewardship and a cleaner, healthier society.
The campaign featured vibrant community activations at the Ikeja City Mall and distributed over 30,000 recovery bags to residents, empowering them to collect and recycle plastics. This large-scale mobilisation builds on the company’s consistent beach clean-up exercises, designed to curb plastic pollution and promote a thriving circular economy.
The Managing Director of Rite Foods, Mr Seleem Adegunwa, revealed that the company employees also played a hands-on role in the campaign by actively sorting and returning plastics, recovering 288kg of post-consumer PET bottles and saving the environment 293.76kg CO₂ equivalent emissions in July alone.
“This result reinforces our belief that collective and consistent actions yield lasting impact. Riteonthebeach is a lifestyle change that supports Lagos State’s vision for a sustainable, clean, and healthy environment,” Mr Adegunwa stated.
Echoing this, the Head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability of Rite Foods, Mr Ekuma Eze, said the firm takes responsibility for its product life cycle—from use to proper recycling.
“Our Plastic Free July campaign showed that sustainable solutions to plastic waste are possible when communities, companies, and governments work together.
“Every bottle recovered is one less hazard to our waterways, biodiversity, and climate. Plastic is not the problem, improper disposal is and we are leading the charge for a sustainable solution through our Riteonthebeach initiative” Mr Eze noted, adding, “By keeping plastics out of our waters, we protect ecosystems and open doors for recycling innovations that transform waste into valuable products.”
The convener of Popbeach Club, Mr Akin Disu, said beyond clean-ups, the collaboration is creating jobs and educational opportunities, allowing shoreline communities to exchange collected waste plastics for recycling, while the proceeds from sale of plastic waste is deployed to back-to-school program for children in underserved communities.