- Chinese firm opens US$45m plastic waste recycling plant in Kenya
- Weeco Recycling Company plans to set up another one in Mombasa
Weeco Recycling Company, originally from China, opened the recycling plant in Athi River town in Eastern Kenya. The plant has the capacity to process 2 000 tons of PET bottles every month, which equates to roughly 72 million 500ml plastic bottles. The plastic will be recycled into pellets and polyester fibre.
Wang Zhangyin, director of Weeco, said the plants will improve the living standards of the collectors and suppliers of PET bottles. The pellets will be exported to Weeco’s parent company in China to make polyester fibre, thus bringing in revenue for Kenya.
Weeco has a deal with Kenya PET Recycling Company LTD, an industry body that regulates the management of PET packaging post-consumer. John Waithaka, chairman of Kenya PET Recycling Company, said Weeco’s move to recycle the bottles is in line with PETCO’s strategic plans.
PETCO has also identified other recycling partners to assist in achieving Kenya’s 2019 target of recycling 5 900 tons of plastic bottles. Weeco will help Kenya reach 34% of that goal. PETCO is providing a subsidy of $0.05 per kilogram of PET bottles collected and recycled by Weeco.
The world as a whole is facing a crisis as over eight million tons of plastics reaches the oceans every year. Kenya and China are working together to play a part in alleviating this crisis.
Read more here:
https://africa.cgtn.com/2019/04/09/chinese-firm-opens-45-mln-usd-plastic-recycling-plant-in-kenya/
https://onehallyu.com/topic/784611-chinese-opens-a-recycling-plant-in-kenya/