NAIROBI, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is set to benefit from a 3.8 billion shilling (38 million U.S. dollars) fund by the Coca-Cola Company to stimulate plastic recycling industries and create awareness on plastic waste pollution in Southern, East and Central Africa over the next three years, officials said on Monday.
The Coca-Cola Company is accelerating the collection and recycling of PET plastic bottles across Southern and East Africa to commemorate Global Recycling Day being marked on Monday.
"This is part of a focused World Without Waste campaign over three years and beyond," Ahmed Rady, General Manager of Coca-Cola East and Central Africa Franchise said in a statement.
"We have formulated strategies to ensure that our post-consumer plastic bottles do not pollute the environment as wastes. We are creating value from our bottles in a bid to drive and sustain a green economy," Rady said.
He noted that under the World Without Waste campaign it will design bottles which are easy to recycle and are themselves made partly out of recycled material; create collecting opportunities by stimulating recycling industries as well as partner with others in the value chain to reduce plastic waste.
He revealed that in Kenya, Coca-Cola and its bottling partners joined industry partners last year to form PET Recycling Company Limited (PETCO Kenya) to spearhead initiatives to collect and recycle PET bottles and packaging, as well as create a favorable environment for the investment of additional capital in the PET sector in both production and recycling.
He added that in 2019 the plan is to accelerate collection and recycling in partnership with industry through establishing Voluntary Extended Producer Responsibility schemes.
