Stakeholders in Nigeria’s manufacturing and waste management sectors have commended the Nigerian Bottling Company Limited for its initiatives geared towards optimising plastic packaging and waste management in the country.
A statement from the NBC following its annual stakeholder’s forum themed ‘Packaging and Waste Management: Key drivers, challenges & solutions, said it had received commendation following its efforts to ensure the eradication of the menace of plastic waste in the country.
The keynote speaker and Special Adviser to the Ogun State Government on Environment, Ola Oresanya, applauded the NBC for holding the forum which he said would go a long way in entrenching the culture of internal self-regulation in the fight against waste.
Oresanya said, “I want to congratulate NBC for their consideration for the environment. In putting together this forum for open conversations around issues affecting the environment, NBC has demonstrated its commitment to finding a solution to the issue of waste management in Nigeria.”
The special guest of honour at the session and Minister of Environment, Mahmood Abubakar, represented by the Director of Pollution Control and Environmental Health, Charles Ikeah, echoed similar sentiments while highlighting the government’s commitment to awareness creation, enforcement of relevant regulations, as well as provision of an enabling environment for private sector participation.
President of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Ahmed Mansur, urged other organisations, particularly in the manufacturing sector, to emulate NBC’s ambitious commitment to rid the environment of plastic wastes and prioritise the lifecycle of their packaging materials in their production processes.
The Managing Director of NBC, Matthieu Seguin, said the company would continue to collaborate with key stakeholders in the plastic packaging and waste management value-chain to ensure that challenges in the waste management ecosystem were converted to viable economic opportunities.
Seguin said, “We believe every package has value and life beyond its initial use and that it should be collected and recycled into a new package.
“The message here is clear: we want all our pet bottles back. Our goal is that we will recover 100 per cent of our primary packaging and recycle 50 per cent by 2030.”
The Lagos State Commissioner for Environment, Tunji Bello, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Belinda Odeneye, highlighted the importance of proper and continuous recycling of all recyclable waste as this would save society from filth and diseases.
She called for collaboration among all stakeholders to ensure environmental sustainability was fully achieved in Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole.
– Punch