Global programme will save 5,000 tonnes of plastic a year

An award-winning recycling programme, Prevented Ocean Plastic, is set to be expanded into Africa, saving up to 5,000 tonnes of plastic each year.  

The equivalent of 220 million plastic bottles will be prevented from entering the ocean through new infrastructure in two pollution areas on the Swahili Coast and where the Nile meets the Mediterranean.  

Collected plastic will then be converted by programme partner manufacturer Bariq to produce fully traceable, certified, high-quality recycled plastic.  

It’s hoped within the next 18 months the programme could prevent over a billion plastic bottles from reaching the ocean and degrading into microplastics.  

Ahmed Nabil, Chief Commercial & Sustainability Officer, Bariq said: ‘We already diverted 15 billion bottles and we are ready to support any initiative that we see extending our impact to other regions. We hope that Prevented Ocean Plastic Africa will have a good impact and will achieve the target.  

‘Year over year, we wanted to have more plastic diversion from Ocean within our recycling mix. We are pleased to be working with Bantam Materials to create Prevented Ocean Plastic Africa. This will help to protect coastal regions and the Mediterranean Sea from plastic pollution. We’re looking forward to being able to scale up the programme and show what’s possible while holding the work to the highest of standards.’  

Prevented Ocean Plastic allows companies and customers to track plastic materials back to the source and offers an ongoing supply of high-quality recycled plastic at industry scale.  

The organisation just set out its new standards, rules and guidelines for participating companies at the programmes launch in Cairo, which have been agreed to by the world’s leading recyclers.  

Successful models of the programme are already operating in Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean.  

As plastic pollution is one of the biggest issues of our time, many programmes and researchers are searching for ways to tackle the problem. 

Scientists as the University of California San Diego recently developed materials which could replace plastic and can biodegrade in compost and seawater.  

Photo provided by Prevented Ocean Plastic