For thousands of people who earn a living collecting discarded plastic bottles, the wastes scattered along roadsides, dumped in drainage channels or washed into waterways could become a more valuable source of income as Nigeria expands its recycling industry.
 
A new $60 million food-grade recycled plastic plant in Mowe, Ogun State, is expected to strengthen demand for used plastic bottles, create jobs and provide more opportunities for people working across the waste recovery chain.
 
Polysmart Packaging Limited will tomorrow, October 29, 2026, commission phase one of its expanded recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (rPET) facility, which is designed to process up to 100,000 tonnes of used polyethylene terephthalate bottles yearly.

The company said the plant, which it describes as Africa’s largest food-grade rPET facility, would produce 60,000 tonnes of food-grade recycled materials and 20,000 tonnes of other recycled plastics yearly at full capacity.
 
For waste collectors, transporters and small businesses involved in gathering and supplying discarded bottles, the expansion could open up new opportunities as manufacturers seek more locally recovered materials for packaging.
 
Polysmart said the facility could generate about 1,000 direct jobs and more than 50,000 indirect jobs across the recycling value chain, including collection, sorting, transportation, aggregation and processing.
 
The company currently operates 25 aggregation centres across eight states. It plans to establish another 250 centres across the 36 states within two years to increase the supply of used bottles and expand access to recycling opportunities.

Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Polysmart Group, Wasiu Balogun, while speaking ahead of the commissioning, said the investment showed that Nigerian businesses could develop large-scale recycling infrastructure.

“When we started this journey in 2013, many people told us that world-class, food-grade recycling could not be built in Nigeria”.

Today, with deep gratitude, we can say that it has been built here by Nigerians, for Nigeria and for Africa,” he said.
 
Balogun acknowledged the contributions of plastic collectors, employees, industry partners, financiers and host communities to the company’s growth.

“We are not only recycling plastics; we are restoring dignity to our environment and creating opportunity for our people,” he added.
   
Beyond employment, the company expects the facility to help reduce plastic wastes in streets, drainage channels, landfills and waterways by returning discarded bottles to the manufacturing cycle.
 
According to Polysmart, the plant can handle the equivalent of about 6.5 billion bottles yearly. 
 
“The scale of operations is expected to increase demand for recovered PET, although the environmental benefits will depend partly on efficient collection systems and sustained participation by households, businesses and waste collectors.
 
“Plastic wastes remain major environmental challenges in many Nigerian communities, where discarded bottles contribute to blocked drainage channels, flooding and pollution of rivers and other waterways. 
 
“Recycling offers a way to recover some of these materials instead of allowing them to accumulate in the environment.
 
“The investment could also help manufacturers reduce their reliance on imported raw materials. Nigeria consumes an estimated 600,000 tonnes of virgin PET yearly, according to the company, creating a potential market for locally produced recycled resin,” the company stated.
 
However, Polysmart projects that the plant could save Nigeria about $72 million yearly in foreign exchange by reducing the need for virgin-resin imports.
 
The facility incorporates processing and sorting technology supplied by European companies EREMA, SOREMA and TOMRA.

The company said its food-grade recycling processes were designed to meet applicable food-contact standards associated with the United States Food and Drug Administration and the European Food Safety Authority.
 
The plant is also expected to support manufacturers in meeting evolving plastic-waste regulations and Extended Producer Responsibility requirements by providing locally produced recycled material for packaging.
 
Meanwhile, the success of the expanded recycling operation will depend on more than processing capacity. 
 
Reliable collection networks, effective sorting, adequate transportation and consistent supplies of clean, recoverable bottles will be essential to keeping the plant running and ensuring that the economic benefits reach people at the lower end of the recycling chain.
 
The commissioning, scheduled to take place at the company’s factory on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Mowe, marks a further step in efforts to build a domestic bottle-to-bottle recycling industry.
 
For the people who retrieve discarded bottles from streets, markets and dumpsites, the key test will be whether the investment translates into sustained demand, better livelihoods and a cleaner environment.