Mohinani Group, IFC sign agreement to recycle plastic waste in Ghana, Nigeria

An Accra-based manufacturing company, the Mohinani Group, has signed a $37 million loan agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to undertake the recycling of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) from plastic waste in Ghana and Nigeria.

The loan would also be used to support Polytank Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of Mohinani Group and Sonnex Packaging Nigeria Limited to establish PET recycling plants in  Ghana and Nigeria.

Each of the recycling plants is expected to produce 15,000 tonnes of recycled PET annually, with 90 per cent of the raw materials sourced from local small businesses involved in plastic collection.

Sustainability

The Regional Director for Central Africa and Anglophone West Africa of the IFC, Dahlia Khalifa, who signed on behalf of the IFC, said the project reflected the corporation’s shared commitment with the Mohinani Group to sustainability and economic development.

“I consider this investment groundbreaking for two main reasons.

The first is that it targets the manufacturing sector, which is crucial for economic transformation and job creation.

“These architect plans have the potential to create more than 4,000 direct and indirect jobs; that is 4,000 families and households, and that really matters across all of the value chains,” Ms Khalifa pointed out.

The IFC Director said the Mohinani Group had repeatedly showed that it paid off to take a climate — responsible approach to business and indicated that the IFC was very proud to partner with the Group.
 

Investment

Over the past decade, Ms Khalifa said, the IFC had invested nearly $2 billion into the Ghanaian economy and “We hope to increase that significantly.”

“Just last year, we brought about $450 million to this economy,” she added, saying “We hope to do a similar thing going forward from this year, by focusing on many sectors, such as our business, financial institutions, education, infrastructure, manufacturing and health care.

Ms Khalifa said the partnership through the signing of this agreement, which would enable the establishment of PET recycling plants in Ghana and Nigeria was a significant contribution to the local economies and represented a step forward in the effort to reduce plastic waste.

“By recycling PET into food and beverage packaging containers, we are supporting the reduction of plastic that ends up in our environment.

Ms Khalifa said the reduced, reused, recycled approach minimised waste, enhanced resource efficiency and delivered a positive climate environmentally and socially.

The Executive Director of the Mohinani Group, Ashok Ramchand Mohinani, described the partnership as a significant milestone in the journey of the Group and said for nearly six decades, the Group had been a proud contributor to the economic landscape of Africa with its roots running deep in Ghana, Nigeria and other countries in sub-Saharan Africa.  

The Mohinani Group, he said, believed these economies had an immense potential for the growth and transformation of Africa.

For over 60 years, he said, the Mohinani Group had been pioneers in the manufacturing and packaging sector of these markets (Ghana and Nigeria) and the partnership he indicated made another leap forward in expanding its manufacturing capabilities.

Appreciation

He, therefore, expressed appreciation to the IFC for recognising the potential of the vision of the Group and for the unwavering support in its efforts to make a tangible impact on sustainability.