Polysmart Packaging Limited projects that a recycling plant it is building in Ogun State could reduce Nigeria’s yearly foreign-exchange spending by about $72 million if it replaces imports of virgin polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin.
The company puts the investment at $60 million and says the facility will turn used PET bottles into recycled packaging material for manufacturers. Polysmart says annual intake could reach 100,000 tonnes, a volume it equates to about 6.5 billion bottles.
At full operating capacity, Polysmart projects yearly output of 60,000 tonnes of food-grade recycled PET, alongside 20,000 tonnes of other recycled plastics. The company puts Nigeria’s annual virgin PET use at about 600,000 tonnes and says lower imports of the resin underpin its savings estimate. The $72 million figure is a forecast, not a reported result.
Polysmart names EREMA, SOREMA and TOMRA as equipment providers. It says its processes are designed around food-contact requirements associated with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
Polysmart says it operates 25 aggregation centers in eight states and plans 250 more across Nigeria within two years. It expects about 1,000 direct positions and more than 50,000 indirect roles across collection, transport and processing.
Wasiu Balogun, group managing director and chief executive of Polysmart Group, said the plant responds to earlier doubts that food-grade recycling could be done in Nigeria. In a company statement, he described it as “built here by Nigerians, for Nigeria and for Africa.” During a facility tour, Balogun told BusinessDay that Polysmart plans to buy about ₦60 billion worth of recyclable waste each year.
A post on Polysmart’s official LinkedIn account says it plans to commission the first phase in Mowe on Thursday, Oct. 29.
