By Ann Godwin, Port Harcourt
TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited has said its partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training And Research (UNITAR) to convert ‘waste to wealth’ with its plastic recycling plant in Rivers State will reduce poverty in the Niger Delta region and beyond.
The Executive Director, JV Assets, TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited, Mr. Obi Imemba, stated this in an interview with The Guardian after a tour of the recycling facility in Elelenwo, Obio/Akpor Council of the state.
The managing director noted that in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on eradication of extreme poverty, hunger and protection, the project, which was inaugurated last year, was achieving the objective through increased job creation.
Imemba disclosed that the plant has exceeded its first-year target by employing about 40 staff members, including youths, men and women, against 15 persons projected within the period and 80 indirect employment as well as supplying products to feed other plants that are into manufacturing.
This, he said, would reduce poverty in the region and curb restiveness. Imemba said the plant has a record of productions towards 1,000 tons of plastics per annum, indicating that over 750 tonnes of Co2 emissions can be saved per year.
He disclosed that the firm has concluded plans for another plant in Obagi in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Council of the state. He said the firm was inspired because the first plant, which is the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), has proven to be sustainable and reducing the quantity of plastics in the environment.
He explained that TotalEnergies is keying into the objective of eradicating waste in Nigeria saying: “We support the objectives of no more plastics waste in Nigeria in the next ten years and we hope that what we are doing will be an encouragement and motivation to other entities to also do similar.
“There are plastics littered all over the country, so we need to replicate this in many more cities and regions of the country with improved partnership.”
The UNITAR representative on the project, Mrs Ihuoma Njemanze, described the project as apt, adding that it is in line with what is happening in the world.
“Recycling is very important at the moment now,” she said.
Source: The Guardian
