UGANDA – Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) has partnered with DHL International in Uganda to manage plastic waste sustainably.
The initiative, which is part of their eco-friendly approach, will help reduce pollution in this East African country.
Under the partnership, DHL will provide its plastic waste to Plastic Recycling Industries, an initiative of CCBA to “build a more sustainable future for Uganda.”
According to Joseph Odole, Country Manager of DHL International in Uganda, the two multinationals will collect and recycle cans, bottles and plastic packaging into by-products.
The initiative will be carried out in collaboration with consumers, businesses and local authorities, particularly in the city of Kampala, where 51% of the waste produced ends up in the environment due to the lack of an effective recovery system, according to the Ugandan branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Commenting on the collaboration, Samuel Kangave, Manager of Plastic Recycling Industries, emphasized the company’s commitment to sustainable waste management and called on more corporate companies to partner with them.
“We are committed to building a circular economy throughout our operations. Increasing waste circularity has environmental and economic benefits since recycling has the potential to create over 50 times as many jobs as landfills and incinerators,” he said.
“We are happy to have DHL on board since we share similar aspirations – better waste management. I invite more private-sector players to join us. Let us partner to create the future we want.”
Although demand for recycled plastic continues to accelerate – driven, in part, by a commitment from brand owners to incorporate recycled content into their products, Uganda’s recycling rate remains very low as indicated by National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) report.
“At CCBA, we are a proud industry leader in developing increasingly sustainable ways to manufacture, distribute and sell our products,” said Melkamu Abebe, General Manager of the Coca-Cola Beverages Africa subsidiary in Uganda, Coca-Cola Beverages Uganda.
“We use our industry leadership to be part of the solution to achieve positive change in the world and to build a more sustainable future for our planet. Regardless of where it comes from, we want every package to have more than one life.”
As part of its responsibility to help address this challenge, Coca-Cola Beverages Uganda, together with The Coca-Cola Company, has set ambitious goals to help collect a bottle or can for everyone it produces by 2030.
The company targets to use 50% recycled content in all packaging and make 25% of its packaging reusable by the same year while making all its packaging 100% recyclable by 2025.
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