Polysmart opens Africa’s largest food-grade rPET recycling plant 0ct. 29

Come Thursday October 29, Polysmart Packaging Limited, an indigenous Nigerian company, will formally commission Phase 1 of its expanded food-grade recycled polyethene terephthalate (rPET) plant in Mowe, Ogun State.

The $60 million facility, which the company describes as the largest of its kind in Africa, is designed to process post-consumer plastic bottles into high-quality recycled material suitable for food-contact applications.

At full capacity, the plant will produce 60,000 tonnes of food-grade rPET annually, alongside 20,000 tonnes of other recycled plastics.

The commissioning marks a major milestone in Polysmart’s efforts to expand bottle-to-bottle recycling in Nigeria, recover discarded plastics and supply local manufacturers with recycled raw materials to reduce dependence on imported virgin plastic resin.

The commissioning ceremony with the theme: “Closing the Loop: Food-Grade rPET and Nigeria’s circular economy,” will take place at Polysmart Packaging Limited’s factory, KM 53 on the Lagos–Ibadan Expressway, Ileke Town, Mowe, Ogun State.

Government officials, traditional rulers, industry leaders, financial institutions, investors, development partners and members of the media are expected to attend.

According to the company, the facility will process up to 100,000 tonnes of post-consumer PET annually, equivalent to about 6.5 billion bottles, helping divert large volumes of plastic waste from streets, landfills, drainage channels, and waterways.

Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Polysmart Group, Wasiu Balogun, said the investment demonstrated Nigerian enterprise’s potential to develop world-class recycling infrastructure.

“When we started this journey in 2013, many people told us that world-class, food-grade recycling could not be built in Nigeria. Today, with deep gratitude, we can say that it has been built here by Nigerians, for Nigeria and for Africa,” Balogun said.

He credited the achievement to the collective efforts of plastic collectors, employees, industry partners, financiers and communities that have supported the company’s growth.

“We are not only recycling plastic; we are restoring dignity to our environment and creating opportunity for our people,” he added.

Polysmart said the expanded facility is expected to create about 1,000 direct jobs and more than 50,000 indirect jobs across the recycling value chain, including plastic collection, aggregation, transportation, and processing.

The company currently operates 25 aggregation centres across eight states and plans to establish 250 more across all 36 states within two years.

The expansion is intended to strengthen the supply of post-consumer PET bottles to the plant while creating more opportunities for people involved in waste collection and recovery.

The investment is also expected to support import substitution. Nigeria consumes an estimated 600,000 tonnes of virgin PET annually, according to the company, creating significant scope for locally produced recycled material to replace a portion of imported resin.

Polysmart projects the facility could save about $72 million annually in foreign exchange by reducing virgin-resin imports.

The plant incorporates processing and sorting systems supplied by European technology providers EREMA, SOREMA and TOMRA.

Polysmart says its food-grade recycling processes are designed to meet applicable food-contact standards associated with the United States Food and Drug Administration and the European Food Safety Authority.

The facility is also positioned to support manufacturers responding to Nigeria’s evolving plastic-waste regulatory framework and Extended Producer Responsibility requirements.

According to the company, locally produced food-grade rPET will help manufacturers increase recycled content in packaging and strengthen domestic recycling capacity.

The investment comes amid growing concern over plastic waste and its contribution to blocked drainage channels, flooding, pollution of rivers and other waterways, and the degradation of the environment.

By returning used plastic bottles to the manufacturing cycle, bottle-to-bottle recycling offers a route to recovering material value that would otherwise be lost through disposal.

Polysmart said its expansion would help strengthen these connections by increasing demand for recovered PET bottles and extending the network through which waste collectors and other participants supply recyclable material.