Nigerian clean-tech plastic waste recycling company Kaltani has raised US$4 million in seed funding to expand its recycling operations across the country.
Founded in Nigeria by Engineer Obi Charles Nnanna, Kaltani aims to solve Africa’s growing plastic waste crisis by promoting the circular economy and recycling best practices.
The startup has a team of 100 spread across its collection centres, recycling factory and offices, responsible for collecting bottles and other plastic waste which is transported to its collection centres for aggregation and processing, and eventually taken to its recycling factory. At the factory, plastics are then converted into hot washed PET flakes, and PE and PP pellets which are then sold to FMCG companies for thermoform, sheet, packaging, bottling and fiber applications.
Kaltani’s technology utilises data analytics, predictive analytics, and geo-mapping to ensure transparency and traceability throughout the value chain.
The startup has now raised a US$4 million funding round, with which it is aiming to open 20 new collection and aggregation centres across Nigeria and increase its staff strength to over 500 people. These updates will augment Kaltani’s capacity substantially, allowing the company to recycle up to 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste 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 works 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.