Sustainable Production and Consumption of Paper and Paper Products in Nigeria: A Review

Abstract

Paper as a consumer product offers a undisputed benefits to human society, and it has been proven to be critical in driving most sensitive needs of mankind—principally in areas of security, education, sanitation, and communication—and thus has been produced and consumed worldwide. Its sustainable production and usage is one topic that has featured prominently in many discussion fronts and more often than not ends with recommendations for an alternative source of raw material, improvement in production procedures, and ecological concerns. Paper use is an ecological concern that has triggered many paper intervention actions around the world such as the Paper Task Force in USA, Sustainable Paper Alliance in China, and Paper and Beyond in Europe. In Nigeria, however, challenges associated with paper production, consumption, and economic prospects have not been adequately tackled. This is conspicuously evident in the huge volume of paper products imported annually into the country as a result of unsustainable local production. The cumulative impact of these issues reflect negatively on the Nigeria’s paper industry and spread indirectly to the entire country’s economy in terms of high capital freight spent on importation, volatile product price, and loss of employment opportunities. This work sought to review the challenges and opportunities associated with raw material sources, energy and water consumption, environmental pollution, paper consumption, and disposal of used paper products in Nigeria. The current review also advocated for wastepaper as a variant of raw material with a sustainable potential.

Implementation of Circular Economy Principles in Industrial Solid Waste Management: Case Studies from a Developing Economy (Nigeria)

“…These industrial regulators may have existing databases of the registered firms and their addresses which makes it convenient for the introduction of the policy, implementation, and monitoring of compliance. NESREA is responsible for the general environmental standard regulation of the entire Nigerian industrial sector, but it has been constantly argued that the agency lacks human resources and the capacity to efficiently perform these multiple functions [28]. Recognizing the importance of distinctive industrial policy measures, the NCC has already drafted a guideline in this respect in 2018 [59].…”

“…Nigeria is a developing West African country with enormous prospects specifically in the areas of natural resources and human capital potential. It has a great endowment in crude oil and natural gas, solid minerals, vast and suitable land for agriculture and water and forest resources [28]. The population of Nigeria has been approximated at 198 million people as of 2018, calculated with 3.2% annual population growth index and also based on the 2006 population census figure of 140,431,790 [29].…”

“…The guideline, however, was not detailed on each aspect of solid waste management, such as waste reuse, recycling, and final disposal techniques. Furthermore, it did not create room for updating based on issues that might arise in the future, such as the issue of informal recycling activities [28]. Another major setback is that the ministry's guideline recommends landfilling as a method of final waste disposal but was silent on the modalities for landfill construction and operation, whether at the present or in the future.…”

“…Since that time, there has been an incredibly large dependency on imported pulp and finished paper material across the country. Further, local paper production in Nigeria has been experiencing enormous challenges [28]. Currently, the paper consumption and demand across the country have been on the increase and this demand is mostly met through importation.…”

“…The large volume of paper and paper material generated across the country is either burnt in the backyard, buried in the landfills or in an open dump across the country [28]. Informal paper recycling has been reported to be in practice in Nigeria, where due to economic hardship, households and offices store up used newspapers for sale to scavengers when the value is perceived to be high [13].…”