$60 Million Polysmart Plant Targets 100,000 Tonnes of Mixed Plastics a Year

A $60 million plastics recycling plant opened in Nigeria this month with a stated capacity of 100,000 tonnes of mixed plastics per year — a throughput its operator equates to roughly 6.5 billion PET bottles, or 15 million bottles processed daily at full capacity.

The facility belongs to Polysmart Packaging Limited, which its chairman, Niyi Yusuf, described as Africa's largest food-grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) plant. Yusuf said the operation would position Nigeria as a recycling hub for West Africa.

The company traces its origins to 2013, when it began with an initial capital of N2 million. The new factory marks the distance travelled since: a purpose-built plant designed to lift plastic waste recovery and recycling volumes nationwide.

The commissioning drew the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, who used the occasion to demand a stronger regulatory framework for recycling policy. The monarch said indiscriminate disposal of plastic bottles and other non-biodegradable materials on roads and in drainages threatens cleanliness and development.

Oba Ogunwusi questioned why Nigerians could not maintain a cleaner environment. He warned that plastic pollution remains a major environmental challenge because discarded plastics degrade with difficulty, and that uncontrolled disposal will continue to undermine sanitation and damage the environment.

What does the plant change for plastic recovery?

Chief Executive Officer Wasiu Balogun framed the investment as infrastructure for both recycling volume and regulatory compliance. He said the new factory would strengthen plastic waste recycling and support Nigeria's transition to a green economy.

The operating plan rests on two pillars:

• National collection network. Polysmart intends to engage collection agents in every local council in Nigeria to improve the collection and recovery of plastic waste.

• Traceability under EPR rules. Balogun said the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency's National Guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility, together with the National Environmental (Plastic Waste Control) Regulation 2026, would let the company track plastic waste and help brand owners demonstrate regulatory compliance.

The volume target carries environmental weight beyond tonnage. Balogun said the initiative would prevent millions of plastic bottles from ending up in landfills, being burned, or entering the Atlantic Ocean, thereby reducing environmental pollution.

Can Nigeria reach higher recycling rates?

Chairman Niyi Yusuf pointed to Germany, South Korea and the Netherlands as proof that higher recycling rates are achievable. Nigeria, he argued, can reach similar levels through stronger producer responsibility systems and sustained investment in infrastructure.

The EPR framework he and Balogun cited is the mechanism to watch. Under the NESREA guidelines and the Plastic Waste Control Regulation 2026, brand owners must account for the plastic they place on the market — and Polysmart has positioned itself as the compliance and traceability partner for that obligation.

What happens next

Two milestones will decide whether the announced numbers become operating reality. The first is the plant's ramp to full capacity — the 100,000-tonne annual figure is a designed throughput, not yet a reported one. The second is enforcement of the 2026 plastic waste regulation, which the Ooni of Ife himself flagged as inadequate without stricter implementation.

If both hold, Nigeria gains its largest food-grade rPET producer and a working model for extended producer responsibility in West Africa.