The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has partnered with Ghana-based company the Mohinani Group to promote plastic recycling in West Africa.
The collaboration aims to establish polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling facilities in Ghana and Nigeria, with a significant loan to support the initiative.
Specifically, IFC will provide a loan of $37m to Mohinani subsidiaries Polytank Ghana and Sonnex Packaging Nigeria.
This financial support is intended to help set up PET recycling plants that will produce 15,000 tons (t) of recycled PET (rPET) resins each year. These resins will be used to replace virgin PET used in manufacturing food and beverage packaging containers.
The sourcing strategy for the plants is community-based, with 90% of raw materials expected to come from local small businesses engaged in plastic waste collection.
The establishment of these facilities is projected to create more than 4,000 direct and indirect jobs throughout the value chain and generate approximately $21m in annual import savings for both countries.
In addition to the loan, IFC will offer advisory services to enhance Mohinani's environmental, social, and recycling operation practices.
Mohinani strategy and transformation manager Roshan Mohinani said: “The rPET project by the Mohinani Group was born out of a vision to close the bottle-to-bottle recycling loop in Africa and the group’s dedication to advancing environmental sustainability.
“It is also inspired by our group's purpose of improving the quality of lives in Africa, as this initiative is expected to create over 4,000 jobs along the value chain in Nigeria and Ghana, thereby providing economic empowerment to a significant number of young people, particularly women.”
This project is in line with IFC's strategies for Ghana and Nigeria, which concentrate on climate change mitigation, job creation, and economic transformation.
Additionally, the initiative supports the World Bank Group's Climate Change Action Plan 2021-2025, focussing on reducing reliance on virgin plastic resins and lowering greenhouse gas emissions in the packaging materials value chain.
