Plastic Recycling Initiative Debuts at CEO Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda : Consumer Goods Firms Launch Plastics Recycling Africa Alliance

In a bid to reduce the problem of plastic waste across Africa, a number of international consumer goods companies operating across the continent came together to launch the Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance today.

The companies Diageo, Unilever, The Coca Cola Company, and Nestlé and the launch took place at the CEO Africa Forum in Kigali.

This Alliance aims to turn the current challenge of plastic waste in Sub Saharan Africa into an opportunity to create jobs and commercial activity by improving the collection and recycling of plastics.

The Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance has been established for companies to:

Facilitate and support their local subsidiaries to engage proactively in market level public private partnerships, industry collaboration and alliances

Share knowledge, encourage innovation and collaborate on technical and other solutions appropriate for Sub-Saharan Africa as well as participate in local pilot initiatives

Engage with the investment community, policy makers and others to accelerate the development and financing of the necessary waste management infrastructure and systems.

In a statement marking its launch the Alliance said:

“Plastics will remain an important packaging material if we are to give African consumers the safe and affordable products they need. However, we need to ensure that the packaging used ends up in the right place.

“Unfortunately, a lack of collection and recycling capacity in many African markets coupled with growing populations is creating a growing problem of plastics waste. We see an opportunity to tackle that problem in a way that creates jobs and reduces dependency on imported materials while alternatives to plastics are developed.

“Collaboration within and across markets will be key to success so we are proud to launch the Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance today to increase those efforts and play our part as companies in finding solutions that work for Africa.”

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