Rwanda Aims Expansion of Single-Use Plastic Waste Recycling Project

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The government of Rwanda, in association with the Private Sector Federation (PSF) recently launched a project which encourages businesses and investors to contribute fees to enhance collection and recycling of single-use plastic waste in the country. It aims to mobilize a minimum of Rwf700 million in fees from the private sector over the next five years.

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According to rough estimates, there exists approximately 6,000 tonnes of single-use plastic waste in the country, which needs to be recycled. Surprisingly, only 100 tonnes per month are collected on an average, significantly lesser when compared with monthly production of around 500 tonnes. In order to close the gap, there needs to be more collection centres in all districts across the country.

The existing collection infrastructure offers employment to as many as 500 people. Upon expanding it to all districts, it could lead to creation of nearly 1,200 green jobs for youth in the country. By boosting efforts to collect and recycle plastic waste across the country, the country aims to end plastic pollution and save the environment.

The collected single-use plastic waste are crushed to produce pellets, which are then supplied to factories, which use them as raw materials to manufacture new products.