$4 M raised by Nigerian clean-tech startup Kaltani to tackle plastic pollution in Africa
Kaltani, a Nigerian clean-tech plastic waste recycling firm, has received an initial capital of $4 million to extend its recycling operations across the country.
Engineer Obi Charles Nnanna founded Kaltani in Nigeria to address Africa’s rising plastic waste challenge by promoting the circular economy and recycling best practices.
The firm employs 100 people throughout its collection centres, recycling plant, and offices, who are in charge of collecting bottles and other plastic garbage and transporting it to its collection centres for aggregation and processing before being delivered to its recycling facility. Plastics are subsequently processed at the facility into hot washed PET flakes, PE and PP pellets, and sold to FMCG firms for thermoforming, sheet, packaging, bottling, and fibre applications.
To provide transparency and traceability across the value chain, Kaltani’s technology employs data analytics, predictive analytics, and geo-mapping.
The business has now secured a $4 million fundraising round, with which it plans to construct 20 additional collecting and aggregation centres across Nigeria and hire over 500 new employees. These improvements will significantly increase Kaltani’s capacity, allowing the firm to recycle up to 15,000 tonnes of plastic trash each year.
“The world has a plastic pollution crisis. Plastic waste is an environmental disaster causing environmental degradation to our oceans, aquatic life, the air we breathe and our health. With the amount of plastic waste produced set to continue skyrocketing, the world desperately needs actionable and scalable solutions. At Kaltani, we have already proven that our solution and model work effectively and efficiently with a thorough A-Z value chain solution, and we are beyond excited to commence our expansion into other parts of Nigeria,” said Nnanna.
