From Plastic Waste to Economic Opportunity: Ooni of Ife Opens New Recycling Factory
A multibillion-naira plant aims to turn Nigeria’s plastic waste into jobs, products and cleaner streets.
A new plastic recycling factory, Poly Smart, was formally opened this week with royal backing, government guests and a lot of applause. The Ooni of Ife, who performed the commissioning, called it proof that
A plant built on waste
At the ceremony, guests were walked through the production line, from washing and drying used plastic to the final recycled material. The company showed samples of 100% virgin plastic beside products made from 100% recycled material. It said the recycled grades have been tested and certified for safe use, including in contact with food and drink.
One early speaker, representing the Niger Delta, asked that local communities be brought into the supply chain. Waste that now clogs the region’s creeks and rivers, he said, could be collected and sold to the factory, turning “waste into money.”
The Ooni’s message
The Ooni said he arrived with a simple belief: Nigeria and Africa will not be developed by outsiders. He said the day before, he had opened a chocolate factory in Ibadan and described the two visits as a double celebration.
He praised the company’s founder, whom he called a quiet, focused man who “only works” and asked the whole hall to stand and applaud him. He also urged banks and advisers in the room to back the business and said he had already spoken to Aliko Dangote about it. Poly Smart handles recycling, he explained, while Dangote’s petrochemical business makes the virgin polypropylene side of the industry.
A call for cleaner streets
The Ooni spent much of his speech on the wider problem. Blocked drains and plastic bottles thrown onto roads, he said, are an everyday sight, and nobody is stopped for it. He pointed to places that take littering seriously, naming California’s heavy fines and Rwanda’s push for cleanliness, and called on the federal government to learn from Poly Smart’s example and pass laws that discourage dumping.
“Cleanliness is godliness,” he said, in a speech that drew on both the Bible and the Quran.
The Crème de la crème In Attendance
The host governor was represented by the state commissioner for agriculture and food security. Other guests included the Minister of Environment, the Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, the Lagos State commissioner for the environment, the Director General of NESREA, and representatives from the Bank of Industry and several capital-market firms.
The ceremony ended with a prayer and a hope that the factory will grow across Nigeria and the rest of Africa. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SOMMJ0K0Ks
