Sumitomo Chemical Supports Plastic Recycling Education in Nigeria

Sumitomo Chemical made a donation of 50,000 USD to a project called “Clean Our World” (COW) initiated by Oando Foundation*1 in Nigeria. The COW project aims to promote education on plastic recycling among primary school children. In Nigeria, the company has been collaborating with Oando Foundation since 2017 and has supported education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by building information and communications technology (ICT) centers equipped with solar power generation at six primary schools in the country.

It is estimated that Nigeria generates over 32 million tons of solid waste annually, of which more than 30% is plastic. Currently, a majority of plastic waste is improperly discarded, clogging drainage systems, and causing floods and outflows of plastics into the ocean via the Niger River, the principal river in Western Africa. Oando Foundation initiated the COW project in 2020 with the goal of resolving these issues. In Lagos, the biggest city in the country, the project provides primary school children, the leaders of the future, with opportunities to learn about the plastic waste problem and about recycling plastics through educational materials and regional cleanup activities so that they can increase awareness of the issue and bring about changes in waste disposal practices in the region. The COW project has already begun in two of the seven primary school districts.

Sumitomo Chemical has raised contributing to plastic resource recycling as one of its material management issues. Thus, the company has developed and supplied products that help reduce plastic use or reuse plastics while also carrying out multiple projects with other companies and academia to develop chemical recycling technologies. As part of its efforts to prevent malaria through its Olyset® Net*2 business, the company considers it imperative that the educational environment in Africa be improved so that autonomous economic development can be achieved in Africa. In cooperation with NGOs, the company has provided support for the construction of primary and secondary school buildings since 2005.

Sumitomo Chemical will keep contributing to the improvement of the educational environment for African children while also actively advancing initiatives designed to solve social issues.

*1 Oando Foundation is an independent charity established in 2011 by Oando PLC, one of Africa’s leading energy solutions providers. The Foundation aims to support the Nigerian Government in achieving universal basic education.

*2 Olyset® Nets are mosquito nets made of insecticide-treated polyethylene fibers, to repel malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. In 2001, World Health Organization (WHO) recommended its use as the world’s first long-lasting insecticidal net.