A plastic waste management project has just been launched by the Swiss multinational Nestlé and the municipality of Port-Bouët in the city of Abidjan. Called "Plastock", the project will reduce plastic pollution in Port-Bouët.
Improving plastic waste management in the Abidjan municipality of Port-Bouët is the aim of a project that has just been launched by the municipality and the Swiss multinational Nestlé, which specialises in the food industry. Called “Plastock”, it is part of the social commitment of the Swiss firm which uses plastic in abundance for packaging its products.
The project is also of key importance for the municipality of Port-Bouët, located in a coastal area where plastic waste ends up in the bay or directly in the ocean. It causes pollution that wipes out many species of aquatic animals and discourages tourists.
A six-month pilot phase
Plastock is “an eco-citizen project with three pillars, namely the installation of boxes that allow the collection of plastic waste, sorting at source and its transformation. The objective is to collect 150 tonnes of plastics during the pilot phase, which will last six months,” explains Lida Assamoi, Occupational Safety and Environment Manager, in charge of the Plastock project at Nestlé Ivory Coast.
In concrete terms, the project will be led by Recyplast, a company based in Ivory Coast. It has already set up 10 plastic waste collection points in several districts of the Port-Bouët communes. The populations will exchange the plastic waste for mobile internet data or Nestlé products. The waste will then be used to make usable objects.
“We are celebrating a vision that we share with many citizens and in particular the people of Port-Bouët. It is part of the circular economy and job creation that the government of Ivory Coast holds dear,” said Thomas Caso, Managing Director of Nestlé in Ivory Coast, at the launch of Plastock. The first results will be known within six months.
Jean Marie Takouleu
