Challenges and opportunities in Recycling of PET plastic waste in Nigeria

The use of plastic bottles (PET bottles) and nylon sachets have been a common material in the packaging of food and beverages in Nigeria. With the increasing population and high demand for packaged and processed food, there are growing fears that the amount of waste accumulated will be huge.  About 100 million Nigerians over 50% of the population consume the sachet water, popularly called? pure water?  due to the inadequate water distribution system in the country.

In Nigeria today, the streets tend to be littered with plastic bottles of different kinds, shapes and sizes. It has become a norm for passengers, passersby and shop owners to dispose of their bottles away after a drink. It would have been better if these bottles are properly and carefully disposed of, however, they are used to litter the streets, block the drains and in turn causes severe havoc such as flooding which eventually leads to loss of lives and property.

Recycling PET bottles is now of great urgency, even though there are recycling companies in the major cities.  This cannot cater for the entire populace of the nation as there is no efficient method of disposing of the waste in other parts of the country.

The recycling of this waste will not only benefit the environment but also be of great economic importance and profitability for the nation.  Some of the benefits are enumerated in the subsequent paragraphs and these are :

Job creation for both skilled and unskilled labour: this is a sustainability project that will involve professionals like the engineer, accountant and marketer. Unskilled labour and craftsmen will work as drivers, cleaners, storekeepers, security which will reduce the number of unemployed youths in the country.

Reduction of flooding and blockage of drains to save lives and properties: It has been noted that one of the major causes of floods in communities is caused by improper waste disposal into the drains meant for water which inhibits the free flow of water causing the overflow to the streets and houses. With this project, it is expected that flooding will be reduced to the barest minimum over time.

Income from this project will increase the standard of living as more citizens will be able to provide for basic needs.

It will further be an eye-opener to the entire populace on the proper disposal of waste and also see waste management as a lucrative enterprise.

Plastic bottles (PET bottles ) can be recycled by reclaimers to create washed recycled PET flake or PET pellets, known as rPET, that are used in a variety of applications including textiles, carpet fibre, strapping, sheet extrusion and new PET bottles. PET is valued for its good physical properties, safety for use with food and beverages, clarity and lack of colour.

Source: https://tunza.eco-generation.org