Published On: June 5, 20202.2 min read444 words

As the world celebrates the World Environmental Day 2020, the Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) has called for increased stakeholders’ collaboration towards restoring biodiversity and preserving the environment.

The Alliance, in a statement commemorating this year’s World Environmental Day themed “Celebrate Biodiversity”, reiterated the crucial role of recycling in preserving the environment while urging consumers to imbibe a culture of proper waste disposal.

The World Environment Day is an annual event designed to engage people, communities and governments to raise global awareness and action for the protection of the environment.

The event is expected to galvanize global efforts and initiatives that address the growing concerns around the environment such as global warming, food security, climate change and water supply.

FBRA was established in 2018 as the Producer Responsible Organization (PRO) for the food and beverage sector with a focus on enabling the collection, recovery and recycling of the post-consumer packaging waste in compliance with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) guidelines.

Since inception, the group has continued to support the waste potentials in Nigeria through various initiatives such as community recycling education, buy-back schemes and engagement of stakeholders in the waste value chain to promote circular economy.

According to the Chairman of the Alliance, Matthieu Seguin, the theme of this year’s celebration “Celebrate Biodiversity” is timely at a period when over 1 million species including plants and animal are at a risk of extinction essentially due to human activities and environmental threats posed by climate change, pollution, industrialization, land-use change and deforestation.

“Beyond the modest gains recorded in terms of significant reduction in pollution around the world, the year 2020 remains a critical moment for us, being the curtain raiser for the UN
Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

“We are using this opportunity to call for the need to scale up consumer education, recycling efforts and stakeholders’ support in promoting sustainable consumption and production to preserve the environment,”

“The FBRA coalition, is predicated on the strong commitment of its member organizations to deliver on goals that will amongst other things, have a significant impact in the promotion of
environmental sustainability.

“We will continue to lead this change as well as the adoption of practices and partnerships to advance this important mandate,” Matthieu said.

FBRA consists of eleven forward-thinking companies namely Nigerian Bottling Company Limited/Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Breweries Plc. and Seven-Up Bottling Company Limited. Others are Nestle Nigeria Plc., Guinness Nigeria Plc., Intercontinental Distillers Limited, International Breweries Limited, Tulip Cocoa, Prima Caps and Preforms, DOW Chemicals and Tetrapak West Africa.

Together, member organisations are committed to taking deliberate actions in providing sustainable solutions for post-consumer packaging waste recovery, environmental preservation and promotion of biodiversity in Nigeria.