Coca- Cola Nigeria through its recycling initiatives has reaffirmed its commitment to the support of environmental protection and sustainability in Nigeria towards a world without waste.
“At Coca-cola, we recognise there is a global packaging waste problem. There is an onus on us as a business to find innovative solutions to tackle this challenge. Through our World Without Waste initiative, we are working hard to ensure the world’s waste crisis is a thing of the past,” said Amaka Onyemelukwe, director, public affairs, communications and sustainability, Coca-cola Nigeria, at the Businessday Diswaste conference tagged, ‘Corporate Citizens for Clean Cities’ held in Lagos recently.
According to Onyemelukwe, Coca-cola is working with multi-stakeholder collaborations and seek to drive, create and accelerate the collection and recycling of its packaging materials.
She explained that the eradication of waste in the country and the world at large through Coca- Cola’s World Without Waste initiative remains an integral commitment for the beverage company.
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Accordingly, Onyemelukwe posits that Coca-cola’s World Without Waste initiative has made remarkable strides in its efforts to curb the waste crisis in the country. She stated that this has been achieved through the creation of a sustainable recycling model and a circular economy.
“In Nigeria so far, through our World Without Waste initiative, we have recycled over 1.5 billion bottles, and invested over 2 million dollars in plastic recovery and recycling efforts,” said Onyemelukwe stating that Coca-cola’s goal is to build better bottles by changing how it produces and packages its products.
Along with key industry partners under the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance, Coca-cola is leading the charge in creating a more sustainable collection and recycling model to enable a circular economy.
This is evident in the various recycling programs going on with multiple NGOS and social ventures across the country. “We believe every package we create should have more than one life”.
“There is no planet B, there is an urgent need to make Nigerian cities cleaner, greener and more sustainable,” Edward Kallon, United Nations resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria.
Ibrahim Adejuwon Odumboni, managing director/ceo, LAWMA, said Lagos generates about 14,000 metric ton (MT) of solid waste daily, however, efforts are being made to properly manage waste and protect the environment.
