Francis Nnachi, the managing director and chief executive officer (MD/CEO) of Solid Chemicals Recycling Limited, Delta State, has revealed how the company is creating jobs and wealth through the recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles and converting same to PET flakes.
Our goal is to create a clean and healthy and safe environment for Nigerians and we are doing this through recycling of PET bottles and converting same to PET flakes which serves as raw materials for industrial strapping belts and fibres but we cannot achieve this without manpower, he said.
Nnachi, in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay, said that presently, the company has in its employ, 100 youths comprising males and females while also engaging several others indirectly in the process of recycling solid waste.
Nnachi, who made the disclosure in his office, located at Okpanam, an outskirts of Asaba, Delta State capital, said that the company has contributed immensely to the reduction of environmental pollution in Asaba metropolis and its environs as PET bottles dumped indiscriminately now translate to wealth to those who pick them up and sell to the company.
Rather than resell the PET bottles, we now sell and export PET Flakes as raw materials, having added value to the product, he disclosed.
Our staff are paid attractive salaries and for anyone who brings PET bottles to us, we pay reasonable amount of money for the items according to the weight when measured in scale.
The streets and roads of Asaba metropolis used to be littered with solid wastes including the PET bottles but today, when you are looking at plastic bottles, you are looking at money. You pick it and you earn a living through it, said Nnachi.
“Our youths no longer need to waste in their prime. When we create jobs and wealth for them, we make life safe for them and the entire society.”
Nnachi, who recalled how the lockdown occasioned by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic pushed him into converting the bottles to flakes, said: “Before the lockdown, we had been compressing and selling PET bottles locally to Chinese and Indians but after the lockdown, we decided to add value to the bottles by converting them to PET Flakes.
“During the lockdown, there was no movement for three months and we couldn’t sell even when our clients were calling for the compressed materials, he disclosed.
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As he researched, he discovered the bottles could be converted to flakes as raw materials for end-to-end products. That’s how the firm upgraded, installing required machinery and manpower for the recycling, sorting, crushing and drying of the materials.
We bring in experts that train our workers, he said: Today, we don’t just recycle plastic bottles but we recycle, sort, crush and dry them, thus converting them to PET flakes, thereby adding value to the product before exporting, said the MD.
By adding value to the raw materials, we increased our chances of generating more revenue, he added.
Very soon, the company would start the end-to-end conversion to finished products like industrial strapping belt and fibre, he said.
What keeps me going is when I consider the smiles on the faces of these youths and women who would have been jobless today. As time goes on, we will employ more people, he expressed.
He commended the Delta State Government for partnering with the company in providing the enabling environment for it to achieve its goal of keeping the capital city and its environs clean.
Nnachi however appealed to both federal and state government to provide more business- friendly environment by helping them have access to power supply.
According to him, “our major challenge is power because we spend outrageous amount of money to power our generator daily as the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) has been making it difficult for us to have access to electricity.
“We are cleaning the environment. The effect is that Asaba roads and street are clean. A lot of boys are off the streets because we have created jobs for them.
“Presently, it is difficult for you to see these bottles on the streets because we have added value to them. It is now like when you look at bottle on the street, you are looking at money and everybody is picking the money, he said.
Commenting on the firm, Gloria Umukotete, a safety and security expert, observed that the firm was contributing to the growth of clean energy in the state and country.
“Solid Chemicals Company Limited is not just turning waste to wealth because what the firm is doing has a lot of positive impact on our environment – keeping the environment and waterways clean, creating employment and raw materials for production.
“Any other form of destroying the pet bottles, for instance, burning, amounts to pollution of the environment and equally dangerous to humans when added to cooking fire.
She observed that the activities of the firm fall into the pillars of the National Youth Action Plan on Peace and Security which include participation, protection, prevention, partnership, reintegration and rehabilitation
“By providing jobs for the youths, the company is helping the youths participate in the economy; the same youths are protected and prevented from committing crimes, and some of them who were disintegrated from the society have been reintegrated and rehabilitated,” she said.
The company, she said, needs more partnerships for greater success.
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