• Thursday, March 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Making money from recycling

IMG-20190704-WA0010

Zeugnis International Limited will expose opportunities in waste recycling in Lagos on August 24. Venue is the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ikeja.

The firm promises to reveal secrets in making wealth from waste.

Handled by Luther Kington Nwobodo, a PhD student and CEO of Zeugnis International Limited, the training will teach participants how to recycle waste nylons, PET bottles and other plastics to bricks and interlocking stones, the firm said. It will also enable Nigerians to learn opportunities in waste, including how to improve the environment through recycling it added.

“On daily basis, Nigerians consume lots of pure water and soft drinks in PET plastic bottles which are thrown away to litter our environment,” Nwobodo said.

“Plastic wastes are increasing day by day and our environment is not spared from pollution. These plastic wastes being thrown away are not really waste as we term them, but can be effectively recycled into useful various industrial materials. Hence, with adequate knowledge and recent technology, these non-degradable materials can be recycled into high strength bricks or interlocking stones that possess thermal and sound insulation properties and reduce the overall cost of construction,” he explained.

“High-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polyethylene (PE) bags are cleaned and added with sand and aggregate at various percentages under intense heat to produce high quality and durable bricks/interlocking stones which are relatively cheaper to concrete types.

“Also, colouring agents can be added to the mixture to attain desired forms or shapes. This technology is not new as it has been in existence in some African countries such as Uganda and Tanzania, among others, but new in our clime,” he said.

He added that adopting this recycling process in Nigeria would not only reduce the amount of waste in the environment but create jobs to reduce high unemployment situation estimated at 23.1 percent.

It would also reduce the huge cost of construction— that is government spending on construction of roads and other major projects that require bricks.

In the forthcoming training next month, Nwobodo and his team would be discussing recycling processes and conversion stages, including acceptable outcome of recycled wastes such flakes, and pellets, the firm said.

“A detailed process of converting waste plastics into interlocking stones and blocks will be unveiled, including machine sourcing and sources of raw materials,” he said.

He explained that return on investment is over 100 percent and participants will be introduced to partners.

“Anyone who wants to go into this business needs this training because it will reduce unnecessary waste of resources in machine sourcing and enable them to understand the difference in PET materials and be able to produce standard PET flakes,” he said.

He further encouraged those seeking lucrative businesses to invest in to give the training a try and learn the secrets of making money from waste.

 

Odinaka Anudu