Encomium
Bolstered by the World Without Waste commitment of Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited and its bottling partner, Nigerian Bottling Company, RecyclePoints, a waste recycling and social benefit organization, has continued the implementation of “Project Revive” – a Coca-Cola sponsored initiative focused on supporting communities to aid their economic recovery from the pandemic through recycling. The waste-management social benefit venture ‘RecyclePoints’ took to Sangotedo to establish a new recycling bank at LUFASI Nature Park on December 19, 2020 to make recycling accessible and rewarding for those in the community.
This development follows the official launch ceremony which was held on September 30, 2020 in Ikoyi, Lagos where Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited unveiled “Project Revive” targeted at ensuring a waste-free world through waste recovery and recycling.
Through the World Without Waste campaign, Coca-Cola seeks to collaborate with recyclers, local NGOs and private-public organisations, to reduce its carbon footprint across the country, waste created by food and beverage packaging, and other non-biodegradable substances.
Speaking at the event was the Head, Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability, Nwamaka Onyemelukwe, who explained: “In September, we officially announced the launch of Project Revive, in collaboration with our partners, RecyclePoints. It makes me particularly proud to see the planned expansion of this project in another local community. Coca-Cola remains committed to ensuring the achievement of our environmental sustainability goals, and this initiative is another step towards reaching our targets as enshrined in our World Without Waste campaign”.
Welcoming the participants and dignitaries to the event, the Administrator of LUFASI Nature Park, Ms. Adeseye Adegboye, speaking on behalf of the founder Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi, thanked RecyclePoints for making good on its promise made on 22nd of April 2018, in commemoration of Earth Day at the LUFASI Nature Park, to setup a recyclables collection centre within the vicinity. She remarked that LUFASI Nature Park has been leveraging RecyclePoints’ incentive-based recycling program since 2014 in its dedicated bid to promote environmental conservation and sustainability. This collaboration, she said, will strongly promote an end to plastic waste and mitigate climate change.
The event had dignitaries in attendance who were assigned the responsibility of commissioning the recycling bank in the community, present at the event were the Women Leader of Eti-Osa East Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Hon. Folashade Olarotimi; the Executive Secretary, Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA), Ms. Agharese Onaghise, Executive Director, RecyclePoints, Mr. Taiwo Adewole and Ms. Adeseye Adegboye from LUFASI.
Speaking at the commissioning, Hon. Folashade Olarotimi lauded Coca-Cola’s efforts with regards to driving positive change in the community. In her words, “Initiatives like this are very much welcome in our community. I express my gratitude to Coca-Cola, RecyclePoints and LUFASI for creating awareness about the importance of keeping our environment waste-free. I am also grateful that the participants are being rewarded for their efforts through this fantastic scheme”.
Over 120 women from the Sangotedo community brought their recyclable waste and registered for the Project Revive Program. The women in return received instant rewards based on the volume of materials deposited. Over 2 tonnes of recyclables which comprised used Plastic Bottles, Beverage Cans and Pure Water Sachets were recovered for recycling. This model is a welcome development for not only women but also disadvantaged community youths to earn monetary and material rewards through recycling.
Coca-Cola – still bolstered by its multiple award wins at the 2020 SERA’s Awards – has this year, kicked off numerous economic recovery initiatives focused on supporting communities recover Like Never Before following the devastating effect of the covid-19 pandemic. These initiatives have seen the economic empowerment of over 20,000 women and youths across various communities. This will no doubt support the strengthening of its 5by20 initiative to empower a total of 5 million women entrepreneurs across its value chain by the end of 2020.
