NAIROBI, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Kenya PET Recycling Company Limited (PETCO Kenya), which is the parent organization of the recyclers of PET bottles and containers, has contracted local firms to produce balers to ease collection, packaging and transport of waste PET bottles.
Joyce Gachugi, PETCO's country program manager, said the baling innovation will seek to boost efforts towards proper waste management by increasing capacity for PET collectors across the country.
"The bailers will compact the PET waste bottles into manageable bulks further making them easier to handle and transport," Gachugi said.
According to Gachugi, PETCO which has a factory in Athi River, about 40 km east of Nairobi, has also ordered more baler machines from China to further boost the innovative solutions of baling post-consumer PET plastics.
"We have placed an order from China to complement the ones that we already have and we expect delivery for the first batch in August this year," she said in Athi River.
Gachugi was speaking in Nairobi when the recycler signed a partnership contract with Industrial Area-based PET bottle collector firm Karsam.
Karsam's director Denis Gacau said the firm will provide employment opportunities to the local youth by putting up collection centers in counties.
"We intend to put up two collection centers in each county and target to collect an average of 200 tonnes of PET bottles every month, this will create job opportunities for the youth as well as offering a solution to the challenge posed by post-consumer PET bottles," he said.
John Waithaka, PETCO Kenya's chairman, said the company was looking forward to partnering with other recyclers and other like-minded organizations to realize the goal of making all plastics recyclable by 2030 and cut down single-use of plastics in a way to promote use of recycled plastic micro-plastics.
"PETCO will provide a price subsidy of 5 shillings (about 0.05 U.S. dollars) per kilogram of PET bottles collected and recycled by Karsam and we shall also be extending the same in levies and grants to upcoming collectors, this is an incentive to bring more partners into the business," said the chairman.
