Cargo bikes and reward points for recycling in Lagos
Wecyclers sends riders on cargo tricycles into low-income Lagos neighbourhoods to collect recyclables, rewarding households with points they can swap for food, goods or cash.
The small thing
As an MBA student, Adebiyi-Abiola first tested the idea of residents dropping recyclables at kiosks. When a survey showed that was inconvenient, the team switched to collecting from doorsteps by bicycle.
The problem
Lagos produces around 10,000 tonnes or more of waste a day, and only about 40% is collected, according to figures reported by AFP and Al Jazeera. Rubbish blocks gutters, contributing to flooding, mosquitoes and malaria, and rubbish trucks cannot reach many unpaved streets.
Why Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola (Wecyclers) started
Adebiyi-Abiola grew up in Lagos and saw plastic and aluminium waste pile up in streets and gutters (MIT News). The idea took shape in 2010 during a development ventures course at MIT, and she launched Wecyclers in 2012 with fellow MBA student Alexandra Fallon.
What they did
Locally employed riders use human-powered cargo tricycles, designed with help from MIT D-Lab and built by local craftspeople, to collect recyclables door to door. Materials are weighed and subscribers receive points by text message for each kilogram, which they can exchange for household goods, phone credit or cash (MIT News; AFP).
The materials are sorted and sold to recycling factories, which make products such as pillow stuffing and flip-flops. AFP reported that the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) backed the scheme and loaned a sorting site.
What changed
According to MIT News in 2015, Wecyclers had collected more than 600 tons of recyclables from over 6,500 households and created 75 jobs. Al Jazeera reported in 2019 that about 60% of its employees were women and that it had won the King Baudouin Foundation's African Development Prize. Africanews reported in 2022 that it continued to employ low-income residents as sorters and riders. These figures come from the organisation's own statements as reported by the media; the overall effect on Lagos's waste has not been independently measured.
What they learned
Adebiyi-Abiola has said that for many poor households recycling first seemed a luxury, since survival comes first, so rewards were a way to start the conversation and show that recycling could help people earn.
“We want to empower people to use recycling as a way to work out of poverty.”Bilikiss Adebiyi-Abiola (Wecyclers), as quoted by MIT News
Copy this idea
Practical guidance written by our editors from the sources below. Adapt it to your place, and check local rules and safety first.
- Problem addressed
- Recyclables are not collected from neighbourhoods that bin lorries cannot reach.
- What to do
- Run a door-to-door collection round on bikes or carts, weigh what each household gives and reward them in points, goods or cash, then sell sorted materials to recyclers.
- Materials and resources
- Cargo bikes or handcarts, sacks, a scale, a simple record system (paper or phone), a sorting space.
- Approximate cost
- Moderate
- Skills
- Route planning, record keeping, finding buyers for sorted materials, building trust with residents.
- Time
- A few hours a week for a pilot street; full-time for a business.
- People needed
- A small team of riders and sorters, plus a coordinator.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Risks and limitations
- Prices for recyclables rise and fall; rewards must be affordable. Provide gloves and safe working conditions for collectors.
- How to adapt it
- Start with one material that has a reliable buyer, such as plastic bottles or cans, and one neighbourhood. Ask residents what is convenient before designing the service.
- Lessons learned
- Survey people first; Wecyclers dropped its original idea when residents said it did not suit them.
Why it matters
A fleet of cargo bikes cannot fix a megacity's waste system on its own. But Wecyclers shows how a simple incentive and low-cost transport can reach streets that trucks miss, and how waste can become a source of income in low-income neighbourhoods.
What didn't work
The first kiosk model failed because residents found it inconvenient, and an early bicycle-and-wagon design was too hard to pedal (MIT News). Adebiyi-Abiola told Al Jazeera she faced sexist comments as a woman running a waste business.
Editor's note
Africanews reported Wecyclers operating in Lagos in November 2022 (page updated 2024). No independent 2025–2026 report was found; current scale not confirmed.
Sources: how do we know?
Evidence level: Documented. Supported by reliable published sources such as UN agencies, award bodies and reputable journalism. Not yet independently re-verified by our editors. What the person says and what independent sources establish are attributed separately in the text.
- organisational
MIT News article on Wecyclers' cargo-bike recycling in Lagos — Rob Matheson, MIT News, 5 March 2015Supports: Founding in 2012 by Adebiyi and Fallon; origins in MIT D-Lab course; failed kiosk model; cargo tricycle design; points system; 600 tons, 6,500 households, 75 jobs; quotes. - reputable journalism
Lagos gets on its bike with recycling 'loyalty' scheme — AFP, Gulf News (AFP), 2014Supports: Lagos waste volumes and 40% collection; LAWMA backing and sorting site in Surulere; rewards; buyers making pillow padding and flip-flops; flooding from blocked drains. - reputable journalism
The women trying to solve Lagos' waste problem — Eromo Egbejule, Al Jazeera, 18 April 2019Supports: About 60% of staff are women; King Baudouin African Development Prize; sexist remarks faced by the founder. - reputable journalism
Nigerian social enterprise encourages citizens to swap waste for cash — David Agunloye Taylor, Africanews, 16 November 2022Supports: Wecyclers still operating in 2022, employing low-income residents as sorters and riders.