Plastic Recycling Firm Invests $8m in Nigeria

• Plastic Recycling Firm Invests $8m in Nigeria

A Polyethylene terephthalate plastic bottle recycling firm, Lexsz Plastics Limited, has invested $8m in a factory in Nigeria after China banned import of trash into its country.

Lexsz exported most of its products to China.

Management of the company said it spent $8m on a 10-acre factory situated along the Lagos/Ibadan expressway, saying that its current direct staff members were 400 while the indirect staff members were about 10,000.

The Executive Director, Lexsz Plastics Limited, Oba Olufemi Akowe, who gave indication in a chat with journalists in Lagos, said the firm which was established in 2003 to provide recycling collection services for businesses and households, had State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine from China for the export of PET plastic bottles, preforms tablets and other raw materials.

The firm, according to him, has been into the collection of various beverage bottles and classifications of waste plastics recycling screening, washing and crushing in Yemen, port city of China.

He added that the firm currently had four production lines refining and processing for the entire West African region.

He said, “The company, based in the Ogun State, serves the surrounding states covering a broad range of features, numerous recycling sites in the surrounding areas and there are 10,000 local workers for the factories recyclable plastics.

“The company’s products not only save a lot of energy and resources, but are also effective for environmental protection in Lagos State. Lexsz has contributed immensely to the Lagos State Waste Management Authority.

“We have helped our key stakeholders in converting waste to wealth. We have also developed a robust partnership with some private sector operators involved in packing and clearing domestic wastes from the cities and the villages.”

The ED added that the firm “generates its energy from Pressure Reducing and Monitoring Station from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.”

On January 1, 2018, China, which is the world’s biggest scrap importer, stopped accepting virtually any recycled plastic and unsorted scrap paper from abroad, and severely curbed imports of cardboard.