The develoPPP programme of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) includes funding programmes for projects in emerging and developing countries in which the private sector is involved. As the programme's implementing organisation, the non-profit GmbH Sequa is providing 80,000 euros to the Cologne-based start-up Plastic2Beans to conduct a feasibility study for the construction of a PET recycling plant in Ethiopia.
Plastic2Beans says it wants to make the plastics industry in developing countries more sustainable. Since 2018, the company would be pursuing the goal of promoting the plastics recycling industry in Ethiopia through a transfer of raw materials, knowledge and technology. With this project, the Cologne-based start-up wants to close the technology gap in PET recycling. In Ethiopia, there are said to be about 60 companies that sell 3.5 billion bottles of water per year. A feasibility study is now to clarify whether the project of a bottle-to-bottle plant can be implemented. Among other things, the locally available resources such as raw materials, infrastructure and labour are to be examined. The results should be available by the end of April. If the results are positive, construction work for such a recycling plant could start at the end of this year.
More information: www.developpp.de, plastic2beans.com
Sources:
- recyclingmagazin.de (25.1.21)
- bmz.de
- Photo: @ Pixelio / Ariane Sept