Nigeria’s Polysmart Packaging is due to commission the first phase of a $60 million food-grade recycled PET (rPET) facility in Mowe, Ogun State, on October 29.

Designed to process up to 100,000 tonnes of post-consumer PET bottles annually, the plant aims to expand domestic recycling capacity and reduce reliance on imported virgin plastics.

🔧 A key feature of the project is its combination of industrial-scale processing and sorting technologies supplied by European equipment manufacturers TOMRA Recycling, EREMA Engineering Recycling Maschinen und Anlagen Ges.m.b.H. and Sorema div. of Previero N. srl. At full capacity, the facility is designed to produce up to 60,000 tonnes of food-grade rPET and 20,000 tonnes of other recycled plastics annually, returning recovered materials to manufacturing.

To secure a consistent supply of feedstock, Polysmart is also expanding its collection infrastructure. The company currently operates 25 aggregation centres across eight Nigerian states and plans to establish another 250 centres nationwide within two years. The expansion is intended to strengthen collection networks and create additional opportunities for waste collectors, transport operators and other participants in the recycling value chain.

The company estimates that the facility will process the equivalent of approximately 6.5 billion plastic bottles annually. It also expects the project to create around 1,000 direct jobs and more than 50,000 indirect jobs across collection, logistics and processing.

📈 Beyond its environmental impact, the investment is aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s domestic plastics supply chain. Polysmart estimates that locally produced recycled resin could save the country approximately $72 million annually in foreign exchange by reducing the need for imported virgin PET.

The project comes as manufacturers face increasing pressure to incorporate recycled content into packaging and improve the recovery of post-consumer plastics. By combining European recycling equipment with an expanding local collection network, Polysmart aims to establish a larger-scale supply of food-grade recycled material for the Nigerian market.

Source: Polysmart