Swiss Firm Builds Addis Ababa Recycling Plant

A Swiss company is building a factory in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to recycle used plastic bottles, Ethiopian officials said Thursday.



"This is [a project for] environmental protection and waste management," Tsegaye Hailu, head of communications at Addis Ababa's Cleansing Management Agency, told Anadolu Agency.



The factory, which is being built by Coba Impact Manufacturing PLC at a cost of $5.2 million, will stand on 5,000 square meters of land in the Nefas Silk Lafto Sub-City in southern Addis Ababa.



"The city has organized 6,000 individuals in over 600 micro- and small-scale enterprises to collect solid waste," Hailu said. "They collect and sort out used plastic bottles from garbage and supply them to the company."



He said collectors would earn $0.25 for each kilogram of used plastic bottles supplied to the company.



Negussie Estifanos, head of the Swiss company's collection department, said the project's main objective was to "protect the environment and thereby reduce unemployment."



"There is a plan to manufacture plastic bottles for both export purposes and domestic use," Estifanos said.



By Abebech Tamene



englishnews@aa.com.tr



www.aa.com.tr/en - Addis Ababa