How I turn plastic waste into wealth – Ex motor spareparts dealer

Katri Gwari area of Minna town in Niger state is home to motor mechanics and spare parts dealers. They occupy almost half of the settlement. Infact the carved portion which housed them is popularly referred to as ‘Mechanic Village”. But a visit by Daily Trust shows that the area is fast opening to other enterprises.

At the far end of the Mechanic Village closed to a canal, an all zinc shop, surrounded by heaps of plastic wastes of different types and sizes, stands apart.

Inside what is no doubt a workshop, Mamman Adamu, 33, and Abdulmajeed Garba, 20 battle with a giant machine they referred to as the crusher, while their master, 50 yearold Evans Nwafor directs proceedings.

“They are servicing the machine for our next production”, Evans, a graduate of Geography who hails from Orumba North Local Government Area of Anambra state explained.

Evans, himself, was a spareparts dealer of many years before venturing into the trade which involves turning plastic scraps into raw materials for plastic indutries.

After serving under his master, a spare parts dealer, Evans opened his own shop with little capital at his disposal which he said was not enough to rake in big profit.

“In spare parts business, the higher the capital the more the profit you make”, he explained.

Beyond profit, he also said the spare parts business was highly competitive. “So many big time dealers with high clientele base are in the trade and they always eclipse upcoming ones like us,” he pointed out.

With just few customers, Evans ate deep into his capital and was almost giving up until his younger brother introduced him to the new business.

“I discovered that with about a million naira, one can stand on one’s own,” he said.

And the new endeavour proved to be sustainable. Within six years he has become an employer of labour with seven employees.

Among the staff is Mamman who specializes in the repair of the machine and crushing the plastic.

Mamman said he learned the trade as youngster in Nasarawa area of Kano state, where he was born. Evans ran into him in the ancient city where he went on recruitment drive and to also shop for raw material. When Mamman agreed to join Evans in Minna, he came along with his own apprentice, Abdulmajeed.

Evans said the business was lucrative as it made one self-employed. Today, he is a proud owner of Evans Plastic Company.

He also pointed out that the business has an enlarged value chain which includes scavengers, popular known in Hausa as Yan bola, who look for and sell the plastic scrap to him.

He said that the processes included purchasing the scraps in kilogrammes. The price per a kilogramme varies across season.

According to him, during the dry season, the price is higher