The Coca-Cola Company recently partnered with the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) and Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) to recover plastic waste from the beach front of Ilashe.
The Coca-Cola Company in Nigeria is a pioneer member of FBRA. FBRA has a team of responsible and forward-looking companies united by a shared concern for the environment and committed to promoting the sustainability of our environment by driving a self-regulatory post-consumer packaging waste recovery within the food and beverage sector.
As part of the effort, over 1.4 tons of post-consumer PET bottles were recovered from the beach to mark World Cleanup Day.
Amaka Onyemelukwe, Director, Public Affairs, Communications & Sustainability at The Coca-Cola Company disclosed on her Linkedin page said, “It was such an awesome time today across all locations. Imagine what we can achieve when we all come together? Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) under the leadership of Ibrahim Adejuwon Odumboni and Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance had a fantastic outing harvesting plastics at the beach front of Ilashe.
She added, “Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance is a producer responsibility organization for food and beverage companies committed to driving environmental sustainability for food and beverage packaging waste. What started as a self-regulatory coalition by only 4 companies have now evolved to a 20-member PRO enabling the recovery of food and packaging waste. The Coca-Cola Company in Nigeria is a pioneer member and taking leadership to ensure we achieve our World Without Waste Ambition.
“Thanks to everyone who came out to make a difference. A total of over 1.4 tons of post-consumer PET bottles were recovered. Now the Ilashe community fully understands that the plastics present in abundance in their environment can be turned to wealth.”
It is noteworthy that Coca-Cola has been quite concerned about environmental sustainability through its foundation ‘the Coca-Cola Foundation’,. One of its numerous activities recently was partnership with S.W.E.E.P Foundation Ng especially in Surulere community, Lagos. A total of over 120 recycling receptacles have been deployed in various locations that helps households separate their post-consumer PETs and CANs. Also, so far over 50tons of PET and 100 youths have been engaged under this project.
Another initiative early this year was a clean-up exercise at the Yaba Market in partnership with Lagos State Government and African Clean-up Initiatives (ACI).
Onyemelukwe said that the foundation believed in a world without waste.According to her, plastic bottles are not wastes but are resources.
“Used bottles can actually pay somebody’s school fees. As a company, Coca-Cola will continue to partner with NGOs in ensuring that our environment is clean and sustainable,’’ Onyemelukwe said.
