Polysmart Packaging Limited says its expanded plastic recycling facility in Mowe, Ogun State, will have the capacity to process as many as 6.5 billion discarded plastic bottles annually as the company seeks to strengthen Nigeria’s response to mounting plastic waste.

The $60 million facility, which will be commissioned on Thursday, is designed to process up to 100,000 tonnes of post-consumer polyethylene terephthalate bottles each year, according to the company.

Polysmart’s Head of Brands and Corporate Communications, Titilope Olayemi, disclosed the development in a statement on Monday.

She said the first phase of the expanded plant would produce about 60,000 tonnes of food-grade recycled PET annually, in addition to 20,000 tonnes of other recycled plastic materials.

The recycled materials will be supplied to manufacturers, including companies seeking to increase the proportion of recycled content in their packaging.

The investment comes against the backdrop of Nigeria’s persistent plastic waste problem, with discarded bottles frequently ending up in drainage systems, landfills and waterways, contributing to flooding and environmental pollution.

Polysmart Group’s Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Wasiu Balogun, said the development represented the culmination of more than a decade of investment and collaboration within Nigeria’s recycling industry.

Balogun said the company began its journey in 2013, at a time when there was scepticism about the possibility of establishing a world-class, food-grade recycling operation in Nigeria.

He credited plastic waste collectors, employees, industry partners, financiers and host communities with helping the company build the facility.

The company said the new plant is expected to create about 1,000 direct jobs and more than 50,000 indirect employment opportunities across activities such as waste collection, aggregation, transportation and processing.

Polysmart currently operates 25 aggregation centres across eight states but plans to establish an additional 250 centres covering all 36 states within the next two years.

The proposed expansion is intended to improve the collection of used plastic bottles and ensure a more consistent supply of recyclable materials to the Mowe facility.

The company, however, acknowledged that the success of large-scale bottle-to-bottle recycling would depend on an efficient waste collection system, greater participation by households and businesses, dependable aggregation and transportation networks, and cooperation across the packaging industry.

The facility is also expected to reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported virgin PET resin.

Polysmart estimates that the country currently consumes about 600,000 tonnes of virgin PET annually and says its recycling operation could help save approximately $72 million in foreign exchange each year by reducing the need for imports.

The company said the plant uses processing, sorting and recycling technologies supplied by European firms EREMA, SOREMA and TOMRA.

According to Polysmart, its food-grade recycling processes have been designed to comply with relevant food-contact requirements associated with the United States Food and Drug Administration and the European Food Safety Authority.

The company said the facility would also assist manufacturers in meeting Nigeria’s developing regulations on plastic waste management, including Extended Producer Responsibility requirements.

The commissioning ceremony will be held at Polysmart’s factory along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ileke Town, Mowe, under the theme, “Closing the Loop: Food-Grade rPET and Nigeria’s Circular Economy.”

The company said the facility was designed not only to recover discarded plastic but also to return valuable materials to the manufacturing cycle, supporting a more circular approach to packaging production in Nigeria.