Circular Economy Approaches in Nigerian Livestock Production: Waste Valorisation, Resource Efficiency, and Environmental Impact Assessment

This study develops and evaluates circular economy frameworks for Nigerian livestock production systems, conducting comprehensive waste valorisation potential assessments, resource efficiency analyses, and life cycle environmental impact evaluations across major livestock production types and geographic zones. Nigerian livestock production generates enormous waste volumes including manure, slaughterhouse effluent, processing by-products, and carcass waste that are predominantly poorly managed, creating environmental burdens while representing significant untapped resource value. Transitioning to circular economy principles in this sector could simultaneously reduce environmental impact and generate economic value from waste streams. This study applies a mixed industrial ecology methodology, combining material flow analysis of livestock production systems in six case study states, life cycle assessment of conventional versus circular economy management approaches, waste characterisation and valorisation potential analysis, and techno-economic feasibility assessment of circular economy enterprise models. LCA uses SimaPro software with Nigerian-specific emission factors developed from primary data collection. Circular economy interventions evaluated include biogas-biofertiliser integration, insect protein production from organic waste, leather and bone product processing, and aquaponics integration with fish production. Findings reveal that full circular economy implementation in the Nigerian poultry sector alone could generate 124 billion naira in additional annual value from currently wasted materials while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 38 percent per unit of protein produced. The most cost-effective circular economy transition pathways are identified for each livestock production type and regional context. The study contributes an original Nigerian livestock circular economy framework and recommends policy incentives for circular economy enterprise development in agro-industrial clusters.

Keywords: circular economy, livestock waste valorisation, life cycle assessment, Nigeria, environmental impact.