Members of the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) have held a symbolic beach cleanup to commemorate this year’s World Ocean Day.

Led by their chairman, Ziad Maalouf, the exercise, which took place at Elegushi Beach, Lagos, was adopted as a springboard for encouraging more sustainable practices around the country’s ecosystem.

The event engaged attendees in a series of activities to evacuate plastic debris and other pollutants from the environs.

FBRA’s participation is in fulfillment of its commitment to protect and preserve the environment from post-consumer packaging materials. It influences management of plastic waste and monitors environmental footprints of entities across the food and beverage industry.

Speaking on the occasion, Maalouf, who doubles as Managing Director at SBC Nigeria, noted: “The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step – and the journey to a green Nigeria – starts with cleaning one spot.”

This beach cleanup is in alignment with our commitment to environmental stewardship in Nigeria. Our environment holds the fabric of our society together, and our dependence on it is undeniable. We must move from a linear economy to a circular economy that protects and drives profit within the Nigerian economy. This involves creating investments for a sustainable future, working with local recyclers and preserving the profit from those streams within the country.”

One of FBRA’s key focus is to further the industry’s alignment with National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) operational guidelines for the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address climate action, life on land, life below water, responsible consumption and production, among other pressing themes.

Since 2012, FBRA members have set ambitious targets to support the circular economy and enhance its recycling infrastructure. By actively participating in other industry initiatives, the alliance aims to lead by example and inspire collaborative action for a sustainable future.

Executive Secretary of FBRA, Agharese Onaghise, who emphasised the importance of collaboration in tackling waste management and pollution, added: “Members have joined forces to address these issues as part of their EPR. This event is aligned with the global theme of this year’s World Environment Day, “Solutions for Plastic Pollution” as a driver to collectively address the menace of plastic pollution. We are excited to have 29 members of FBRA from the food and beverage industry contributing to solve the issues that affect our environment and ourselves in addition to supporting the collection of the post-consumer waste. We must continue to encourage these practices, by ensuring they become ingrained in our culture.”

Member-companies represented at this year’s beach cleanup included SBC Nigeria Limited, Nigeria Breweries Plc, The LaCasera Company Plc, Nestle, Guinness Nigeria Plc, CHI Limited, UAC Foods, Nigerian Bottling Company, CWAY Foods, Prima Corporation Limited, International Breweries Limited, Nestle Nigeria Plc and Tetrapak West Africa.

FBRA is a non-profit industry collaboration platform set up in 2018 by a Memorandum of Understanding with the objective to galvanise responsible players in the food and beverage industry to support and scale up post-consumer waste collection, buyback schemes and recycling programmes