(Business in Cameroon) - It was in a communications campaign through which the brewery market leader in Cameroon invited consumers to join the “Plastic Recup” project that the news was announced: “Brasseries du Cameroun (SABC) and Hygiène et Salubrité du Cameroun (Hysacam) have partnered to promote the recuperation and recycling of plastic packaging from the SABC factories and its subsidiary, la Société des Eaux Minérales du Cameroun (SEMC).”

According to SABC, this partnership enabled the collection “in 2013 of 2 million bottles which would have ended up in the wild.” In 2014, the initiative should allow for the collection of 4 million plastic bottles “which will then be processed by Hysacam, then made available to companies specialised in recycling to be transformed into new products (watches, bags, sweaters, water jugs, chip-equipped cards, etc),” stated Benoît Mboula, Director of Quality Safety & Environment at SABC.

Brasseries du Cameroun admits that “Plastic Récup” aims simply to have current environmental protections respected, specifically the government’s October 2012 legislation which was co-signed by the Ministers of Environment and Trade. The text stipulates that “each manufacturer or distributor using non-biodegradable packaging shall put in place guidelines to facilitate the recuperation of the said packaging for recycling, sale or destruction.”

“Plastic Récup”, which SABC alleges has enabled many young people to find unemployment, should be running at full speed this year due to the disallowance of production, importation and sale of non-biodegradable packaging in Cameroon.