Categories: News

Minister lauds Coca-Cola over investment in packaging collection hub

The Minister of State for Industry, John Owan Enoh, has commended the Coca-Cola System, comprising the Coca-Cola Company and the Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (CCHBC), for its investment in the Packaging Collection Hub to address the waste collection challenge in Nigeria.

Enoh stated this while speaking at the commissioning of the hub in the Apapa area of Lagos State on Friday, January 31, 2025.

Enoh, the special guest of honour at the commissioning event, described the Coca-Cola System’s establishment of the packaging collection hub as a bold step that would redefine Nigeria’s industrial landscape.

The minister said: “Establishing this hub by the Coca-Cola System, comprising Coca-Cola Nigeria and the Nigeria bottling partner of CCHBC, Nigerian Bottling Company Limited, marks an important moment in our national industrial journey.

“It demonstrates what happens when industries rise beyond profit and embrace responsibility to the environment for job creation.”

He further affirmed that the federal government, through the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, was unwavering in its commitment to achieving its mandates, including strengthening industrial clusters, deepening local production and backward integration and creating a self-sustaining industrial ecosystem that is globally competitive.

Enoh lauded the Coca-Cola System for investing in the hub and proving that manufacturing can be a force for good.

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Enoh stated: “Let the world know – Nigeria is not waiting for an industrial revolution. We are building it. Waste is no longer waste – it is a resource, an economic asset, and a tool for wealth creation.

“The age of reckless extraction and waste is over. The new industrial economy is circular, regenerative, and smart.

“If an industry does not recycle, it will soon become obsolete. If a manufacturer does not embed sustainability, it will lose relevance. That is why this initiative is so powerful. It ensures that waste is no longer waste—it is raw material, it is opportunity, it is industry.”

The minister added that the hub will enable a new industrial value chain in which plastic is not discarded but repurposed, collectors are not sidelined but empowered, and businesses become more resilient by being more responsible.

Enoh also expressed excitement at the number of jobs the hub will create and others in the recycling value chain.

He said: “Coca-Cola system has demonstrated through its action that the industrial Nigeria we look forward to is possible.

“This is the blueprint for the future: industries that innovate, manufacturers that take responsibility, and a government that enables prosperity through smart policies.”

The Star