Georgetown: The Caribbean Container Inc (CCI) on commissioned a $44 million recycling plant at its Farm, East Bank Demerara site, in tribute to the company’s former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Ronald Webster.
CCI is a publicly traded company that operates an integrated paper recycling and corrugated box plant. Some 4000 metric tonnes of cardboard waste is recycled every year with supplies from Guyana and other Caribbean countries.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony on Friday, the company’s new Chief Executive Officer Patricia Bacchus stated that the entity has been facing some major challenges as it relates to production capacity.
She noted that the shortage of supplies of old corrugated cardboard locally, has been a great setback for the company. According to her, the issue has been costing the company huge sums of monies to import the cardboards to Guyana.
“In light of this, the company’s strategy is twofold. The first involves extending our private initiatives for local waste cardboard collection.” The second, she noted is embodied in the setting up of collection points in and around the capital.
Speaking to the first initiative, Bacchus said the company had previously depended on over 15 suppliers to collect the cardboard waste. However, it has now resorted to supplement such strategy, through collaboration with private waste disposal companies.
The new CEO said that the company has also embarked on a new strategy to optimise its recycling capacity, by examining ways by which it could recover fibre from non-traditional sources, separate from the old corrugated cardboard.
“In this regard,” she stated, “the Tetra Pak Recycling Project was the perfect fit. Under this project, Tetra Pak, the world’s leading manufacturer of food processing and packaging solutions, provided the main recycling equipment.”
The CEO said that other franchise holders including the makers of Pine Hill, Nestle and Topco have already begun supplying their Tetra Pak waste to CCI for recycling.
She said the company anticipates that all partners in the project will continue to grow in the “environmentally sustainable venture”, and has called on both the Government and the Private Sector to make an accelerated approach to address the solid waste management shortcomings.
She cited the notable achievements of recent, including the anti-litter legislation. “But we should strive to go further, and the Private Sector ought to be prepared to play an equal part,” Bacchus said.
She noted that the problem of solid waste is not only an issue for the City Council or the Local Government Ministry, but required a collective effort.
“I would like to suggest that we consider regulations for solid waste separation and management by private companies, manufacturers, importers, retailers, supermarkets, etc,” she noted, contending that such regulations have been introduced elsewhere in the Caribbean and have significantly alleviated the environmental woes that come with improper solid waste management.
CCI, an integrated paper recycling entity, is a “green” business, operating in line with the concepts of sustainable development. In 2006, CCI managed to avoid impending foreclosure and commenced a major restructuring programme. During the years that followed, the company recorded positive growth, achieving a net profit in 2012 and again in 2013, for the first time in 20 years.
In 2013, CCI entered into a joint venture with Tetra Pak, the world’s leading food processing and packaging solution company, which, like CCI, is keen on sustainable development and best environmental practices.
The Tetra Pak will provide CCI with the capacity to recycle Tetra Pak aseptic packaging waste, comprising layers of paper and poly-aluminum.
The plant will yield high strength fibre that will be added to CCI’s paper recycling process to enhance the quality of paper produced. Phase two of the venture involves the supply and installation of equipment to convert the poly-aluminum component into a value-added product.
Tetra Pak is a company which provides smart food processing and carton packaging solution.
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