A graduate of Usmanu Danfodio University Sokoto(UDUS) is committed to ridding his environment of waste and recycling same. His focus is on converting plastic waste into reusable items through a tech-driven approach,while creating public awareness on the importance of recycling. WONDERFUL ADEGOKE (UDUS) reports.
Amidu Muhammad felt the prickle on his skin when he had fallen into a drainage filled deep to the surface (ground) level with nylon and plastic waste materials. Pressed and desirous of urinating at night (on his way to Abuja), he had stopped by, knowing that it could have been a different story, had a child been involved.
It was hard explaining to people as confused as he was that he had fallen into a ditch far-away from the surrounding gutters. But there he was, facing reality by what has become the norm on roads in local and urban communities across Nigeria.
“I didn’t realise I was six feet down,” he recalled. This was a push behind a grim truth, painful than the memory it evokes.
His experience, though one among many, embodies the mission of PlatiBuilds Creative Solutions Limited, a youth-led innovation incorporated on the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in October 2023, and focused on converting plastic waste into reusable items through a tech-driven approach, innovative climate solutions, and public awareness.
According to the Lagos State Waste Management Agency (LASMA), 10,000 tonnes of waste is churned our from his state of primary residence. The agency places the figure at even more severe risks, reporting that only 40 percent of daily waste is collected by municipal government.
A Personal Conviction Turned Advocacy
26-year-old Amidu Muhammad founded PlastiBuilds in 2018 after witnessing a surge in plastic management and recycling in sub-urban communities in Lagos State.
That it was common knowledge that the waste crisis he experienced while growing up in Bariga was actually worse, as the young ones who lived there earned below the minimum wage or not even close to it, and all that could be prioritised, in the moment, was surviving on their shoestring budget, barely sustainable.
The organisation now explores possible ways of putting some of the trash to good use, providing residents with not only a variety of options at their disposal but also ensuring the waste no longer clogs drainages whenever there’s a heavy rain.
“Instead of pouring the heaps of waste (at midnight) into drainages or the tip of canals that gets flooded,” Amidu told CAMPUS LIFE, “since we can’t live with them, why can’t we use the waste materials for something else?”
“Our approach as a tech-driven waste transformation company aligns with the standard ways of exploring the waste economy all over the world. We transform waste into functional products such as footwears, furniture, interior decoration items, among many others, to create wealth in megacities like Abuja, Kano, Lagos.”
A climate activist and wastepreneur, Amidu holds a B.Sc degree in Education and Extension Services from Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS). His diverse training has enabled him to transform personal conviction into structured advocacy.
Beyond field interventions, his firm has streamlined waste sorting, collection, and disposal to ensure compliance with the Environmental Permanence Index for improved sustainability and to lessen the scale of waste draining.
As a social venture, part of its preventive strategy involves building the confidence of investors in the recycling industry. Through its diversification, not only does the group supports SDG 12, but it also reduces the risks linked to exposure to the pollutants that weakens the immune systems, increases the rate of birth defects, among many other health deficiencies found in people living in a garbage-filled environment.
Through his contacts and the newfound need for investment to curtail the public health implications, he said: “People need to understand that technology makes waste debris more functional. Integrating tech into products helps people out of emergency; it offers more values to customers and guarantees safety, as a single product could be integrated to serve other purposes.”
Persistent Challenges
Over the years, PlastiBuilds has gained recognition for its widespread impact, securing grants such as the Nigeria Youth Academy’s N1million start-up grant.
Despite its achievements, the public perception seemed to have made their efforts look like idle promises. “From the onset, our communities have gotten it all wrong about waste management,” he lamented.
Amidu, seeking to launch Nigeria’s first Digital Waste Upcycling Hub and Makerspace in Lagos, urged the government and education stakeholders at all levels to integrate the information into the realm of public awareness.
“Till today, plastic is still the cheapest form of packaging; it’s inevitable. The question shouldn’t be about the problem but what could be done to manage the problem,” he explained.
To reach more people through persistent advocacy, PlastiBuilds hopes to instill one truth: This—plastic is a product that can remain in the system for years—is a problem to be shared to avoid its ripple effects bouncing back.
