Plastic waste into opportunity: Consumer goods firms launch Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance

27 Mar 2019 --- Nestlé, Unilever and the Coca-Cola Company are among the cohort of international consumer goods companies launching the Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance. The 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, policymakers and others to accelerate the development and financing of the necessary waste management infrastructure and systems.

The alliance says that plastic must remain a primary packaging material so that African consumers can continue to have access to the safe and affordable products they need. However, it must be ensured that used packaging does not end up as litter. Unfortunately, a lack of collection and recycling facilitiesin many African markets coupled with growing populations is creating a growing problem of plastic waste.

Collaboration within and across markets will be the key to tackling plastic waste and the alliance hopes to connect actors and provide solutions. This provides an opportunity to tackle the problem in a way that creates jobs and reduces dependency on imported materials while alternatives to plastics are developed. 

The co-founding companies have all made high-profile pledges regarding their use of plastics.

Unilever – which is also a signatory of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment – has pledged to deliver 100 percent reusable, recyclable or compostable and 25 percent recycled plastic content in its packaging by 2025. It also seeks to reduce its packaging weight by one third and halve waste associated with product disposal by 2020.

Coca-Cola has committed to help collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle it sells globally by 2030, produce packaging that is 100 percent recyclable by 2025 and to use at least 50 percent recycled material in packaging by 2030. The beverage giant recently released its annual packaging volume numbers to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, revealing that it produces three million tons of plastic packaging a year – based on 2017 numbers – which translates to 200,000 bottles a minute. 

Nestlé’s also has a broad vision for achieving a waste-free future. The company plans to make 100 percent of its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025, with a particular focus on avoiding plastic waste. Between 2020 and 2025, Nestlé will also phase out all plastics that are not recyclable or hard to recycle for all its products worldwide. In doing so, Nestlé is rolling out alternative packaging materials across its global product portfolio and establishing partnerships with cutting-edge packaging specialists. 

Lastly, alcoholic beverage company Diageo will ensure that 100 percent of its plastic is designed to be widely recyclable and to achieve a 40 percent average recycled content in its plastic bottles. The company is also a signatory of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment.

The Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance is the latest in a string of plastic-waste fighting collaborations which feature FMCG heavyweights. For example, The New Plastics Economy was launched in October 2018 as a global commitment to eradicate plastic waste at source and work collaboratively towards the development of a circular plastics economy. Since then, the number of signatories has risen to more than 350 and now includes Apple, Barilla, Tetra Pak, L’OCCITANE en Provence, as well as the Government of Rwanda and the cities of Sáo Paulo (Brazil) and Ljubljana (Slovenia). Financial institutions with more than US$4 trillion in assets under management have endorsed the commitment. 

While in the UK, the Plastics Pact currently has 67 business members – including major players such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrison’s – representing retail, manufacturing, hospitality, the plastic supply sector, plastic recycling and resource management. The pact has committed to a series of ambitious targets by 2025: 

• Target 1: Eliminate problematic or unnecessary single-use plastic packaging through redesign, innovation or alternative (re-use) delivery models.
• Target 2: 100 percent of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable.
• Target 3: 70 percent of plastic packaging effectively recycled or composted.
• Target 4: 30 percent average recycled content across all plastic packaging.

By Laxmi Haigh