Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda Signs MOU with Associazione Zenzero in Uganda

Kampala; Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) in Uganda is today signing aMemorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Associazione Zenzero to help amplify our plastic collection effort as we drive our commitment to a World without Waste.

The parties enter into this MOU to effect co-operation in the area of CCBA in Uganda purchasing sorted PET from AZ. “This MOU signing will go a long way in supporting our vision – The Coca-Cola Company and all its bottling partners are leading the industry to help collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one we sell by 2030. We’re working to bring people together to help us collect and recycle a bottle or can for every one we sell.’

Speaking at the ceremony, Simon Kaheru, Public Affairs & Communications Director Coca-Cola Beverages Africa in Uganda noted that “Food and beverage packaging is an important part of our modern lives, yet the world has a packaging problem, which we as CCBA, together with The Coca-Cola Company, have a responsibility to help solve. Clearly, plastics are a significant global challenge. Our commitment is to invest in our planet and our packaging, to help make the world’s packaging problem a thing of the past, focusing on PET plastic”.

Through our PRI initiative, we are working to give every package more than one life while contributing to job creation and growing adjacent local industries,” he added.

Simon explained the importance of partnerships in achieving this goal: “We want to support theGovernment’s environmental management objectives by making recycling more accessible for everybody to get involved.”

On their part, Associazione Zenzero said “We are already present with a similar process in Ethiopia and the aim of the organization is to empower women, practically through plastic collection. We collect PET, so we identified a local NGO-CEPCOM in Uganda as our implementing partner represented by Mr. Steven Kuteesa and Coca-Cola Beverages Africa through Plastic Recycling Industries as our buyer” Mr. MarcoMacchi, Associazione Zenzero representative in Uganda.

“We are excited at the shared opportunities that this recycling initiative creates for all of us and we are committed to ensure that the Associazione Zenzero make this successful.” He added.

We are happy that the Associazione Zenzero cancontribute to a more sustainable and climate conscious Uganda through this initiative. We would like to do even more, and are at the moment looking for more opportunities of setting up other centres like this.

Plastic Recycling industries has to date collected 62% of the plastic produced by CCBA in Uganda. This target is part of a larger strategy to create partnerships in plastic collection in all 13 countries where it currently operates.