Mohinani Group collaborates with Norfund to advance rPET packaging material in West Africa

The Mohinani Group, a Ghana-based industrial conglomerate, has partnered with Norfund, the Norwegian Investment Fund for developing countries, to promote recycled PET (rPET) as an alternative to virgin PET resins used in food-grade packaging bottles and containers in Ghana and Nigeria.

The collaboration aims to accelerate investment into the recycling and processing of post-consumer PET plastics, improving local recycling capacity while reducing waste and dependence on virgin plastic.

Naana Winful Fynn, regional director for West Africa at Norfund, says: “This investment in Mohinani Group aligns with our efforts to develop the plastic recycling sector. By supporting the company to build high-capacity recycling infrastructure, we aim to buttress and develop collection chains, help to create jobs and improve lives, reduce dependency on imported inputs, and decrease the amount of unmanaged waste.”

Norfund and IFC is  supporting Mohinani Group to operationalize the projects in West Africa.“The project is expected to create around 500 direct jobs and up to 3,000 indirect jobs in collection, transport, and logistics. It will also help reduce plastic pollution, cut GHG emissions, and strengthen local industry.”

Enhance regional sustainability

Existing Mohinani rPET facilities in Ghana and Nigeria each have the capacity to produce 15,000 tons of rPET resins annually. This will substitute virgin PET resins and provide a more sustainable alternative for eco-friendly packaging manufacturing across the continent and beyond.

Ashok Mohinani, chairman at Mohinani Group, says: “This collaboration with Norfund marks another major milestone in our sustainability journey. Together, we are intensifying efforts to close the loop for bottle-to-bottle recycling across West Africa and beyond, while creating more jobs, enhancing the circular economy, and driving environmental impact.”

This partnership follows Mohinani’s collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. IFC provided a loan of US$37 million to help Mohinani Group subsidiaries Polytank Ghana and Sonnex Packaging Nigeria to establish PET recycling plants in Ghana and Nigeria.

Last year, the World Bank issued a seven-year US$100 million Plastic Waste Reduction-Linked Bond. In Ghana, funds would support its community-based project to expand the number of waste collection and recycling sites in the country’s capital, Accra.