Ghana’s Mohinani Group to boost recycling in West Africa

Ghana-based manufacturer Mohinani Group Limited has teamed up with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to undertake the recycling of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) from plastic waste in Ghana and Nigeria

The initiative is expected to create thousands of jobs in both countries and help protect the region’s environment.

Under the partnership, IFC will provide a loan of US$37mn to help Mohinani Group subsidiaries Polytank Ghana Limited and Sonnex Packaging Nigeria Limited to establish PET recycling plants in Ghana and Nigeria.

Each plant will have the capacity to produce 15,000 tons of recycled PET (rPET) resins annually that will substitute virgin PET resins used to make food grade and beverage packaging containers.    

Some 90% of the raw materials will be sourced from local small businesses involved in plastic collection.

“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,” said Roshan Mohinani, strategy and transformation manager for Mohinani.  

“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.”

Combined, the new plants are expected to create more than 4,000 direct and indirect jobs across the value chain and approximately US$21mn in annual savings from imports for each country.

PET is a polymer resin of the polyester family, widely used for making containers for liquids and foods.

Using recycled plastic waste for production will prevent harmful pollutants from being released into the environment and reduce the need for virgin plastics. This will lower greenhouse gas emissions because recycled plastics have a smaller energy footprint than new plastics.

IFC — a member of the World Bank Group — will provide advisory services to strengthen Mohinani’s environmental and social practices and its capacity for efficient and sustainable PET recycling operations.  

The project aligns with IFC’s strategies for Ghana and Nigeria which are focused on mitigating climate change, job creation and economic transformation.

It is also consistent with the World Bank Group’s Climate Change Action Plan 2021-2025, which aims to reduce the use of virgin plastic resins and greenhouse gas emissions in the packaging materials value chain. 

“IFC's partnership with Mohinani underscores our dedication to promote environmental sustainability and economic development in Ghana and Nigeria,” said Dahlia Khalifa, IFC regional director for Central Africa and Anglophone West Africa.

“By recycling up to 30,000 tons of PET waste annually, these new plants will protect the environment and substitute imports with locally recycled materials.”

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