Guinness Ghana Breweries PLC’s parent company Diageo has co-founded the Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance to collaborate on plastics recycling and reprocessing in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The alliance has the explicit intent to focus on the economic opportunity it presents, according to release by Guinness Ghana Breweries.

Diageo is partnering with other consumer goods multinationals including; Unilever, The Coca Cola Company, Promisador and Nestlé to launch the Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance.

The launch took place on Monday, March 25 in Kigali, Rwanda at the CEO Africa Forum.

This Alliance aims to turn the current challenge of plastic waste in Sub Saharan Africa into jobs and commercial activity by improving the collection and recycling of plastics.

The companies will facilitate and support their local subsidiaries to engage proactively in market level public-private-partnerships, industry collaboration and alliances.

They will share knowledge, encourage innovation and collaborate on technical and other solutions appropriate for Sub-Saharan Africa as well as participate in local pilot initiatives.

Within the markets they operate in, the companies will also engage with the investment community, policy-makers and others to accelerate the development and financing of the necessary waste management infrastructure and systems.

“Plastics will remain an important packaging material if we are to give African consumers the safe and affordable products they need. However, we need to ensure that the packaging used ends up in the right place. Unfortunately, a lack of collection and recycling capacity in many African markets coupled with growing populations is creating a growing problem of plastics waste. We see an opportunity to tackle that problem in a way that creates jobs and reduces dependency on imported materials while alternatives to plastics are developed. Collaboration within and across markets will be key to success so we are proud to launch the Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance today to increase those efforts and play our part as companies in finding solutions that work for Africa,” the Africa Plastics Recycling Alliance has said.

L-R: Dougie Brew (Corporate Affairs Director, Unilever Africa), Christian Byron (Head of Supply Chain and Plantations, Unilever Africa), Bruno Witvoet (President Unilever Africa), Gavin Pike (Managing Director, Guinness Ghana Breweries PLC), Andrew Musingo (Public Affairs and Communications Director, Coca Cola Beverages Africa) and Gabriel Opoku-Asare (Head of Society, Africa, Diageo).