UGANDA – Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda has partnered with Nice House of Plastics, Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) and Stanbic Bank to promote responsible use and re-cycling of plastic as part of it’s ‘World Without Waste’ vision, which targets to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle it sells and reach 50% recycled content of all its packaging by 2030.
The parties, according to Business Focus, inked a Memorandum of Understanding showing their commitment towards the initiative which will support waste management projects undertaken in the country’s capital, Kampala and help plastic waste collection centres increase their capacity to collect, safely dispose and recycle plastic waste.
Coca-Cola Beverages Africa Public Affairs & Communications Director, Simon Kaheru, said, “We believe in doing business the right way – and insist on this throughout our value chain. Plastic Recycling Industries is an initiative under which we fund the collection and delivery of plastic waste from the environment and recycle it into raw materials that can be put to end use manufacture”.
Studies estimate that, an average of 1,500 tonnes of plastic waste are generated daily in the country, with only 500 tonnes properly managed.
This indicates a collection efficiency of 30%, implying that most of the waste generated is not safely recycled and goes into the environment.
“This collaboration is an important step in the journey we are on to achieve 100% collection and recycling of the products our consumers buy”.
“Forming collaborations such as this landmark partnership we have signed, is an integral part of that pledge. Bringing people together to actually do the work or encourage more individuals and companies out there to also do business the right way is a big step in changing our world. First, we change ourselves, then we change other people” explained Simon.
Under the collaboration, CCBA’s Plastic Recycling Industries will collect PET bottles from the environment through a system of collection partners countrywide, recycle them into PET Flakes and then supply them as raw materials for Nice House of Plastics to create finished products.
“This collaboration is an important step in the journey we are on to achieve 100% collection and recycling of the products our consumers buy”, added Simon.
Barbara Mulwana, Executive Director of Nice House of Plastics, said they will use the PET flakes to make final products such Yarn-Fibre, Wood Plastic Composite and PET.
“Recycled PET is one of the major raw materials that we use in our work. We have previously imported some of it and this collaboration will go a long way in solving our raw material problem and promoting a safe environment,” she said.
Stanbic Bank’s role in the initiative will be to provide financial support and advisory services needed to achieve sustainable waste management.
“We are proud to be part of this initiative as it’s aligned to see priorities that seek to address the Social, Economic and Environmental needs of the people we serve,” said Stanbic Bank’s Executive Director and Head of Corporate & Investment Banking, Emma Mugisha.
The Kampala Capital City Authority Executive Director, Dorothy Kisaka, thanked the companies for technically and financially supporting its effort to safely dispose of plastic waste.
“We are grateful that you have officially joined hands with us once again to supplement our efforts to clean up the city and make our environment better. Kampala City and the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area are supposed to be green – providing a sustainable plastic waste recycling infrastructure is an essential qualification of that ‘green-ness’,” she said.