A new standard for recycled plastic waste has been developed in Nigeria and the promoters of the innovative product say it will save for Nigeria over N1.8 trillion annually.
The new standard, which was developed by Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in collaboration with stakeholders in the food industry, has capacity to improve production processes of plastics.
It is also capable of ensuring safety and quality of products, leading to an increase in its use which, in turn, provides opportunities for employment rather than expending the nation’s hard earned resources on importation.
SON explained that the need to develop the standard was also coming on the heels of a recent coordination by the federal ministry of environment to develop a national policy for the lifecycle of plastics in the country.
At the moment, Nigeria is the third largest importer of plastics in primary forms after Egypt with just 30 percent capacity to produce locally while the remaining 70 percent is being imported.
Osita Aboloma, Director General of SON, said at a technical committee meeting on polymer and related products that there have been lots of demand for the standard for recycled plastics by stakeholders, the private sector and manufacturers, stressing that for the national policy of the federal ministry of environment to gain ground, it must be backed by standards.
“This meeting would not have come at a better time than now when there are rising concerns over the use of recycled pet bottles in the food industry,” he said.
The SON boss, represented by the agency’s Director, Standards Development, Chinyere Egwuonwu, said it would also give consumers and producers the confidence that the products and services they were developing or using were safe and reliable while also keeping the environmental safe.
“The recycling of pet bottle packaging represents one of the most successful and wide spread examples of plastic packaging recycling. The growth in collection and processing of pet bottles for food packaging application has been increasing significantly over the last 10 years,” he said.
He said further that the growth has been accomplished by significant investments in plastic recovery facilities and food grade recycled pet processing. “The food and beverage recycling association of Nigeria remains the driving force for the development of this standard,” he said.
“Today, we have a draft national policy on life cycle of plastics with recycling of plastic waste as one of the strategies. The draft policy has been extensively discussed by all relevant stakeholders and it is currently being processed for approval by the relevant government agency,” he added.
He urged stakeholders to study the document and come up with a workable standard that would guide manufacturers, promote trade and assist regulation to guarantee acceptability without compromising the safety of the product and the environment.
The chairman of the Committee from the Department of Chemical and Petroleum/Gas Engineering of the University of Lagos, Abiola John Kehinde, commended SON for creating the platform for developing the standards, saying that it would go a long way to educate manufacturers on what was expected of them while also making the environment safe.
“This is a meeting where all the necessary inputs for developing the standards are being discussed,” he said.
The Deputy Director, Standard Development and Group Head, Chemical Technology Group, SON, Agboola Afolayan, said the standard was very special because it deals with recycled pet bottles for food application
“There is garbage of plastic waste everywhere in the country and it is becoming an international embarrassment. Our environment is feeling the negative impact of this situation and our drainages are blocked by the littering of plastic pet bottles. If we want to recycle well, there must be a standard that will guarantee the requirements and which must be consistent with international best practices,” he said.
