KAMPALA – Coca-Cola Beverages Uganda (CCBU), through its Plastic Recycling Industries initiative (PRI), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Stanbic Bank Uganda, in a development that seeks to bolster responsible use and recycling of plastic waste.
Under this arrangement signed on Friday, February 17, 2023, both companies committed to work together to step up collection and recycling efforts countrywide.
“Our responsibility is to collect and recycle plastics, and we would like to encourage everyone to join us in this cause,” said Samuel Kangave, PRI Manager
He said the Nakawa-based plant which has been in existed since 2006, has built the capacity to collect and recycle up to 85% of the plastic bottles produced by her mother company, Coca-Cola Beverages Uganda.
Mr. Kirunda Magoola, the CCBU Public Affairs, Communication and Sustainability Director highlighted that waste management is a collective effort that requires stakeholders to come together.
Kirunda said CCBU is committed to the waste collection as a sustainability pillar.
“We have an agenda named “world without waste” as our commitment to investing in our planet and the environment. This is the reason for every bottle we produce, we are determined to collect the equivalent. For example last year, we were able to collect 85% of the bottles we produced and recycled them while collecting PET waste wherever we find it,” Kirunda said.
Kirunda added that Coca-Cola globally pledged that by 2030 the company would redesign packaging to make it more recyclable, and help collect and recycle 100% of the plastic waste generated through its business.
Plastic pollution is currently one of the biggest environmental concerns due to the rise of single-use plastics. It has toxic pollutants that damage the environment and cause land, water, and water pollution.
Studies estimate that only 500 tonnes of plastic waste in Uganda is being 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.
A recent study by UN Environment Program (UNEP) showed that plastic production has quadrupled over the past four decades— with its authors warning that if that trend continues, the making of plastics will make up 15% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
Speaking during the signing of the MoU, Stanbic Chief Executive Anne Juuko the bank has aid Stanbic bank is committed to promoting sustainability through its activities and increasing opportunities to deliver sustainable and impactful investment expertise to its clients.
“The single biggest tool in the fight against environmental degradation is awareness. People should be aware that if you reach out for a single-use bottle, you are planting a seed to take 500 years. It pains when I walk around and I see Kaveera. It is incumbent on every one of us to join this fight against environmental degradation,” Juuko said, emphasizing the need for collaboration to drive the agenda for saving the environment.
“There is a multiplier effect in collaboration and that is where the fight will be won. We need to explore ways and means to tackle this problem jointly. We have the resources but all we need to do is come together to tackle the problem because poorly disposed of plastic waste damages the environment.”
Stanbic’s role in the new collaboration will be in providing the necessary finance and advisory expertise to promote sustainable waste management of plastics.
On her part, Naomi Karekaho the Corporate Communications Manager at the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), the principal agency in Uganda, charged with the responsibility of coordinating, monitoring, regulating, and supervising environmental management in the country hailed the arrangement and said it would help to save the environment.
“The impact we suffer with climate change is partly because of poor waste management and the effects come directly into our pockets, farms, or businesses. Plastics take many years to be broken down in the environment. Plastic kills soil, animals, and water among many other living things. I am happy there are people attempting to address the problem of plastics,” Kerkaho.
CCBU has in recent years implemented a number of recycling campaigns, as well as reinvented existing ones while adhering to the values of a closed-loop circular economy: a system in which all of the plastic packaging the company produces is designed to be recycled, kept in the economy, and reused in food and beverages.
At PRI, waste plastic is transformed into flake products which are mostly sold to foreign markets.
These are then used to manufacture a range of products like polyester fibres (a base material for the production of clothing, pillows, carpets, etc.), polyester sheets, strapping, or back into PET bottles.
