Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) Uganda has signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Royal Danish Embassy in Uganda to ensure that the country is free of plastic waste.
The Memorandum will support the beverages company vision of seeing that all plastics are collected and recycled by the year 2030. According to the beverage company they plan to work with all stakeholders to help the company in collecting and recycling of all plastic wastes generated in the country.
Speaking at the signing ceremony at the Danish Embassy in Kampala on Thursday, the head of Mission at the Embassy Majbrit Holm Jakobsen applauded the Coca Cola for coming up with the initiative of keeping Uganda free from plastic waste that are an environmental threat.
“Sustainable development and green growth are focus areas of Denmark and the Danish Embassy in Kampala and its companies are leading when it comes to developing of sustainable products and services. When plastics waste are recycled, more products can be produced and sold on the market; this creates jobs for younger people at the same time cleaning up the environment,” she said.
CCBA Managing Director Conrad Van Niekerk said by recycling plastics will help the beverages company to lower the cost of production since some of the packaging materials are being imported from abroad.
“Food and beverage packaging is an important part of our modern lives, yet the world has a packaging problem which CCBA together with The Coca-Cola Company have responsibility to collect plastics that are significantly global challenge. That is why as a company, we have are commited to invest in initiatives that save our planet and make the packaging problem a thing of the past through recycling the waste,” he explained.
Van Niekerk added that the partnership will support the government in solving environmental challenges associated with the accumulated plastic waste.
“We want to support the government’s environmental management objectives by making recycling more accessible for everybody,” he added.
Under the deal, the Embassy of Denmark will ensure that all their employees participate in collecting plastics accumulated in their offices to make the deal successful.