The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) in partnership with the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) has sensitised the public on the dangers of plastic pollution to ensure
By Olaitan Idris
The Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) in partnership with the Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) has sensitised the public on the dangers of plastic pollution to ensure a healthy environment.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event with the theme: “Beat Plastic Pollution,”
was held at the Lekki Conservation Centre on Wednesday in Lagos.
The sensitisation and lecture were also in partnership with the Union Bank of Nigeria.
The Director of Business Development and Communications, Mr Uchenna Achunine, said the event was in commemoration of the 2025 World Environment Day (WED).
Achunine said the event was organised to sensitise the public on the dangers of plastic pollution and ways to maintain a healthy environment.
“We are celebrating a very important day for those who are in the conservation space, the WED.
“We go to communities and schools to carry out practical activities and field work that’s tied to the theme for the WED we are celebrating.
“So, this year, the theme is Beat Plastic Pollution, which is a serious message and charge to everyone about our role.
“That is the role that we have got to play regarding making eco-friendly choices when it comes to the use of plastics and how we deal with those plastics,” he said.
He said biodegradable plastics if not recycled, reused, or managed would come back to harm everyone in the society.
“We are grateful to our partners who join hands with us every year to commemorate this day, and one important thing is that we don’t just come to talk.
“With our different partners, we have gone to some schools to donate giant bins so that students of those schools can be disposing their plastics properly, and those plastics can be collected and recycled.
“We will be going next to about six schools to donate six giant waste bins for those schools to use for proper disposal of plastics.
“So, today’s event is a serious call to everyone of us that how we live our lives will affect us positively or negatively, and we have a role to play in building sustainable cities where people and nature will thrive,” he said.
He enjoined everyone to comply with the rules and guidelines of the environmental laws.
“If we continue using plastics everywhere, the case of littering will remain there, so, I think it will be better to deal with it from the root,” he said.
Earlier, the Head of Packaging Recovery, NBC, Dr Idris Adetola, highlighted the steps to be taken to tackle plastic pollution.
“Beating plastic pollution is one cause that is 100 per cent in alignment with our corporate mission.
“This is to drive for a circular packaging, economy, and drive for a situation where no packaging goes to waste or pollutes the environment.
“We are one of the founding members of the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance. This is an alliance of over 40 members, member companies, with the sole purpose of galvanising the sector,” he said.
He added that one of the purposes was to actively drive the collection and recycling of all the packaging in the market.
“This is to ensure that they don’t end up as persistent pollutant in the environment.
“So, in addition to our collective work as an alliance, we are also actively driving several initiatives,” he said.
He said that NBC started with in-house, by setting up recycling centres within its premises.
“Beyond that, we have also seen that this is a model that works. We have our employees bringing in their waste packaging, PET bottles, cartons, and all that from their homes to the plants.
“They deposit it, they get cards, and they get a reward for doing these things. So, we have started taking it even into communities.
“We have set up several community-based recycling centres all across Lagos, Abuja, and other communities both as NBC and also Coca-Cola system at large,” he said.
He added the company recently launched the Mega PET Aggregation Hub in Lagos.
“We plan to replicate the same across all the geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
“Each of these facilities has the capacity to mop up over 500 million units of PET bottles every year when operating at optimal capacity.
“We launched at the end of January, and within the last four weeks, we have been able to mop up a significant amount of PET bottles from the environment.
“This is not just collecting it, but also recycling it and reintroducing it back into our packaging,” he said.
He said these initiatives were introduced to beat plastic pollution.
The Chief Brand and Marketing Officer, Union Bank of Nigeria, Mrs Olufumilola Aluko, said that sustainability of the environment was beyond financial services.
“If you look around us, I mean, we are in Lagos State. We can see the effects of plastic pollution.
“Everywhere is littered. Our drainage and gutters are gone. The only way that we can do this is either to recycle or reuse, and in Union Bank, we see sustainability beyond the lens of just financial services.
“We work in communities and are situated in communities. We live with these communities.
“How much more can we improve these communities that we live in is to improve the environment that serves us and sustainability is the way. Beating plastic pollution is the first place to go,” she said (NAN)