Climate Innovation Centre moves to boost plastic waste recycling

The Nigeria Climate Innovation Centre has launched the Cycle Plast project to scale up plastic waste collection and recycling activities in Nigeria.

The project, funded by the Coca-Cola Foundation, aims to improve the amount of PET collected and aggregated for recycling while engaging and empowering Nigerians to earn incomes through plastic waste recycling.

Commenting on the project in Abuja on Tuesday, Bankole Oloruntoba, CEO of NCIC said that the project also seeks to promote a plastic waste-free environment derived through modified behavior and proper disposal habits of communities, “while creating jobs and unlocking opportunities along the plastic waste recycling value chain of Nigeria.”

According to him, Nigeria has remained among the largest country in the world generating plastic waste amounting to about 5.96 million tonnes annually with about 70 percent ending up in landfills and waterways.

“The Cycle Plast project aims to significantly curb the plastic waste menace across Nigeria by leveraging and empowering the informal waste collection sector with resources aimed at improving their productivity to collect good grade PET plastics and connecting them to plastic waste collectors within their communities.

“This will help in integrating the informal sector to work in synergy with the formal sector towards creating a viable value chain for plastic waste recycling

“This project will engage the general public through innovative and disruptive behaviour change campaigns on consumption and disposal patterns of single-use PET plastic bottles with the aim of encouraging plastic consumers to responsibly dispose of their plastic waste to enhance and build an effective collection system,” he said.

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He also noted that the informal sector is responsible for about 70 percent of the plastic collection rate of the country and needs to be supported to do more by digitizing the sector and making it more inclusive and attractive for investments.

The two years project, according to him, is being launched in Kano, Adamawa, Kwara, Abia, Edo State and the Federal Capital Territory.

The representative of the Coca-Cola Foundation, Nwamaka Onyemelukwe said that the foundation has focused on the recycling value chain as a means of empowering Nigerians as well as creating a healthier environment.

According to her, the PET waste collection is an economic sector with huge potentials yet to be tapped.