The GIVO-Warwick Project

Last updated on 7 January 2025

Background Information

The GIVO-Warwick Project is a partnership between the University of Warwick and GIVO Africa (Garbage In Value Out), a circular economy company based in Nigeria that leverages the use of technology to collect, process and upcycle plastic waste into valuable goods. The project focuses on digitally tracking and monitoring waste collection centres to enable data-driven solutions to plastic waste management, and optimising the plastic management supply chain.

Digitally-enabled GIVO Collection Centres in Abuja and Lagos act as community hubs operated by youth and women for the interception and aggregation of plastic waste from households and the environment. This plastic waste is collected and processed to produce certified consumer and industrial goods, such as shredded plastic flakes, eco-panels and face shields. Using the GIVO Technology Platform, the Centres are able to identify, track, and report on the plastics that enter and flow through the systems. The platform uses the data to provide easily understandable information about plastic types and volumes that are being processed as well as greenhouse gas emissions and compliance to norms and standards for recycling, thereby enabling transparency to foster decision-making processes and financing within the plastic waste value chain.

The GIVO model concept and design are expected to yield broader impacts across the value chain and supply chain, some of which may be measurable; for others, the effect will be extrapolated. GIVO provides incentives and formalised employment for waste pickers who are currently underpaid and exploited by an informal waste management system as well as several other formal jobs for skilled personnel. These are critical sources of livelihoods in an area where communities face increasing energy and food insecurity. Therefore, the IT system becomes a critical legacy product of the SMEP project with a broad range of value propositions, including supporting regulators and policymakers with their strategic response to the waste management and recycling challenge.

Updates

Operations:

Between July and September 2024, GIVO continued operations across its two functional centres in Lagos and Abuja. New centres in Ikota and Ajah were selected based on high residential and commercial activities, as well as schools within a 2km radius from the centre, which is the optimal collection distance for GIVO. For the new sites, GIVO has secured match funding from new partnerships with APMT and WACT.
UoW was joined in mid-August, by a Research Fellow, who will oversee the research and innovation work planned for the remaining period of the project. Similarly, GIVO Nigeria also enhanced their team, by recruiting new staff to help with different aspects of the project.

GIVO platform updates:

An SMS platform is being integrated at GIVO to enable depositors to check their balances and request fund transfers to their bank accounts. This will undeniably help track the incentives paid out, and to allow all depositors to use the platform regardless of their mobile network and type of mobile phone.
GIVO successfully obtained the ability to develop the SMS platform to allow depositors to access their balances and redeem points via SMS.
GIVO Server successfully migrated to MySQL which will increase flexibility, scalability, and strong community support, making it ideal for large-scale application, as well as enabling developers to create databases on a Windows system and deploy them on either Windows or Linux servers.

Community Engagement and advocacy:

The Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), promoting a culture of waste sorting, has approached GIVO to facilitate awareness in two local schools: The aim was to raise awareness on plastic recycling adopting the Blue-bins placed in schools.
To remain competitive, GIVO raised their incentive rates from ₦50/kg to ₦150/kg.
GIVO plans to collaborate with the Lagos Office of Climate Change and Circular Economy, which falls under the Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget – with the aim to collaborate with the office to develop the Young Climate Champions Club in the new centre at Ikota Primary School. This initiative aims to instill climate awareness in primary and junior secondary school students in Lagos through hands-on extracurricular activities.
GIVO also collaborated with the NGO Ocean Hub Africa, who generously allocated an engineer on a pro-bono basis to assist in redesigning the centre. The goal of this collaboration was to optimise the centre’s layout and increase operational space. One significant change was reducing the office size to a booth, thereby creating more room for centre activities, including a dedicated area for sorting materials within the container.