Waste to Wealth; Making Fortune From Recycling.

A lot of youths are transforming waste management into profitable ventures. One of them is Mrs. Olamide Ayeni-Babajide, the founder, Pearl Recycling.

She started the company in 2016 after she noticed the impact of wastes on the environment.

In 2012, she travelled to United Arab Emirates (UAE) for an official duty, where she bought a wall décor. On closer examination, Ayeni-Babajide found that the beautiful object was made from corn husks. It caught her fancy.

From then, she began to think of what to do with wastes, how to empower women, build a product from waste of international standard and keep the environment clean. Two years later, she started a waste recycling business as a hobby. She eventually went into it fully in 2016.

She uses everything from tyres, bottles, newspapers, magazines, straws, and plastic cutlery to wood, unused CD tapes and even sea-shells and turn them into tables, chairs, and home décor, among others to beautify homes and offices.

She prefers the Ottoman Table. Made from recycled tyres, the object is reportedly one of the company’s most popular items. She makes eco-friendly products, such as panelled mirrors and decorative furniture from items like wood, straws and other materials that people have thrown away.

To help the society, she is equipping Nigerians with the skills to identify valuable discarded waste and build businesses out of them. So far, she has trained over 250 women.

Another woman changing lives is Olabanke Banjo, Creative Director, Cyrus45 Factory, a recycling company that transforms used vehicle tyres into furniture and beautiful artworks.

In 2016, she was staying with her elder sister in Lagos, where she saw their neighbour trying to get rid of a huge pile of tyres. Immediately, the thought about how to make things out of waste came. Like every startup, the first few months were challenging.

After overcoming a lot of hurdles, the business is now a success story. So far, Cyrus45factory has upcycled about 500 tyres. One of Cyrus45factory’s goals is to minimise the damage caused by old tyres.

The Founder, Greenhill Recycling Limited, Mrs Mariam Lawani, is an educator turned waste manager. She started from her house garage. She creates value from waste. These include plastic bottles, water sachets, paper, aluminum and cartons.

The startup encourages residents to keep their household wastes, such as clean empty plastic bottles, aluminum beverages, can, and old newspaper for recycling.