RWANDA – Inyange Industries, one of the leading food and beverage manufacturing companies in Rwanda has introduced a new look for its natural mineral water and sparkling water brands.
In line with the country’s regulations relating to the prohibition of single-use plastic items, the company has re-introduced its Inyange water brand, coming in an eco-friendly recyclable glass bottle.
Rwanda became the first country in East Africa to issue a complete ban on all single-use plastics in 2019, a move that goes hand in hand with its commitment of environmental protection.
Jame Biseruka, Managing Director of Inyange Industries said, “Through Innovation we believe Inyange Industry can produce different products which are environmentally friendly.
“Fighting climate change and ensuring we have a greener world is key to today’s agenda of launching these two products in a glass bottle.”
He revealed that about Rwf350 million (US$340,000) has been invested in a transition to packaging in glass bottles and in total the company has so far spent over Rwf500 million (US$480,000) to go green.
Other than Inyange, Rwandan beer manufacturer, SKOL Brewery inaugurated its state-of-the-art water production line a year ago, with a production capacity of 40,000 bottles of pure mineral water per hour.
It produces its new bottled water brand dubbed Virunga Water, coming in two variants i.e. mineral and sparkling water, and packaged in returnable glass bottles.
In addition to the package transition, earlier in the year, Inyange Industries revealed plans of investing US$20.8 million to set up a milk powder plant in Nyagatare District, Northern Rwanda.
The proposed plant, according to its parent company Crystal Ventures Ltd (CVL) will have a processing capacity of 500,000 liters of milk a day producing 14,000 tonnes of milk powder and 5,460 tonnes of fat per year.
Production is expected to commence by the first quarter of 2022 with the plant first operating at 40 percent capacity before upgrading to 80 percent in five years.
The investment came at an opportune time following an announcement by TRIOMF East Africa, a joint venture firm owned by South African and Rwandan investors, that they have postponed their plan of constructing US$37 million milk powder plat in Gicumbi District.
The planned facility with an installed capacity to process 252,000 litres of milk per day, was expected to commence construction by the end of last year and be completed within a year’s time.
However, due to financial constraints, dairy farmers from the Northern part of the country were left a disappointed lot as they were looking forward to the ready market for their milk.
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