The Food and Beverage Recycling Alliance (FBRA) has appointed Agharese (Arese) Lucia Onaghise, as the Executive Secretary of the alliance to drive its ambitious goal towards building a sustainable recycling economy for food and beverage packaging waste in Nigeria.
With the new position, she holds the mandate to drive the various campaigns and initiatives of FBRA as a Producer Responsibility Organisation (PRO) to fruition, with her wealth of experience. This would further strengthen the recovery of food and beverage packaging waste incompliance with the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy of the Federal Government.
Arese is a thorough bred Eco-consultant, with a postgraduate in Environmental Technology from Imperial College, London. She also holds a BSc. Degree in Microbiology, from University of Ilorin, Kwara State.
She has over 17 years cognate experience which cuts across Health Safety Environmental Consulting, Non-GovernmentalOrganisation, Local Authority, Manufacturing, Telecommunications, Oil and Gas.
Prior to her new role at FBRA, she was Project Safety Health and Environmental Manager at Delta Afrik Engineering / Worley on the Mobil Producing Nigeria Projects then served as a Waste Minimisation/ Recycling Advisor at Hyder Consulting; Waste Watch and Business Eco Group in the United Kingdom; she also had a stint as Technical Officer at World Health Organisation, in Bonn, Germany. She was also a Research Assistant at Imperial College, London and an Environmental Analyst Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Commenting on Arese’s appointment, FBRA’s Vice Chairman, Adekunle Olusuyi, affirmed that it is necessary at this time of intensified efforts on community campaigns on waste management, which involves proper waste disposal and separation, recycling initiatives, environmental conservation and collaboration with various state governments on cleaner and litre free environment
He said to further strengthen the role of the alliance, FBRA has ensured that its executive secretary would coordinate its activities to attain the desired goals, as a PRO for the food and beverage sector. We are excited about the positive impact this will have on our industry, and the nation at large.
On her part, the Executive Secretary pledged to effectively drive the initiatives of FBRA to enviable heights, taking cognisance of the accolades it has received from stakeholders in the waste management sector, Lagos State Government and the National Environmental Standard Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA).
Founded in December 2013, FBRA has membership drawn from responsible and forward-thinking companies which includes Nigerian Bottling Company Limited/Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Seven-Up Bottling Company Limited, Nestle Nigeria Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Intercontinental Distillers Limited, International Breweries Limited, Tulip Cocoa, and Prima Caps and Preforms.
With its collection partners, RecyclePoints, West African Energy and Chanjadati among others, FBRA has been embarking on enlightenment campaigns in curbing environmental pollution caused by food and beverage packaging waste, promoting proper disposal and separation of plastics that have in some ways contributed to flooding in Nigerian cities.
FBRA was founded in 2013 to operate as a self-regulatory initiative for the recycling of used food and beverage packaging waste into synthetic fibre and other uses.
It consists of responsible and forward-thinking companies such as the Nigerian Bottling Company Limited/Coca-Cola Nigeria Limited, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Seven-Up Bottling Company Limited, Nestle Nigeria Plc. Guinness Nigeria Plc and Intercontinental Distillers Limited, International Breweries Limited, Tulip Cocoa, and Prima Caps and Preforms.
Established as the PRO for the food and beverage sector, it ensures the success of the EPR policy of the Federal Government. Its mission is to recover and recycle food and beverage packaging waste and thereby create a sustainable recycling economy that will stimulate employment, innovation and wealth creation.
