Rwanda seeks investment to strengthen sustainable packaging solutions
RWANDA – The government of Rwanda is actively seeking investors to engage in the development of environmentally friendly alternative packaging solutions.
Faustin Munyazikwiye, the Deputy Director General of the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA), made this announcement during a panel discussion on ‘Packaging and Logistics in Agribusiness’ held on 27 June as part of the EU-Rwanda Business Forum.
The EU-Rwanda Business Forum, themed ‘Rwanda – Your Gateway to Africa,’ brought together more than 600 participants from Rwanda and Europe. Attendees included industry leaders from the private sector, diplomats and other officials.
Munyazikwiye emphasized the significance of innovation, research and the use of appropriate raw materials to achieve sustainable packaging solutions and combat plastic pollution in Rwanda.
“We are eager to see other investors coming into recycling glass bottles since we are seeing a shift of operators moving from plastic to glass bottles. However, we don’t want the glass bottles to become a burden for the community,” he said.
He highlighted the need for innovation from both sides of the public and private sectors on how to work together to achieve that.
So far, only two beverage manufacturers-Inyange Industries and Skol have launched trials for packaging water in glass bottles.
While Rwanda allows the use of home compostable plastics, Munyazikwiye urged investors to consider this alternative as businesses gradually transition towards sustainable packaging solutions.
He emphasized the detrimental impact of plastics on the environment and the need to explore cost-effective alternatives.
The call for investment in home compostable plastics comes in response to the demand from business players who argue that certain products, such as flour, cannot be feasibly exported in paper bags that may change a substance due to environmental factors.
Rwanda is among the first countries to embark on a sustainable packaging journey, after instating the law to ban the manufacturing and importation of single-use plastics in 2019.
With this, Munyazikwiye mentioned that REMA and the private sector signed an agreement to have a scheme whereby private operators who need to use plastic bottles pay a certain amount for collecting and recycling those plastics.
As of now, businesses that use plastic bottles pay Rwf90 per kilogram of collected bottles. This is in line with the environmental levy scheme that is yet to go into force.
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