Africa’s Waste Industry Draws Limited Investment Despite $8 Billion Recovery Potential

Africa’s municipal waste could generate an estimated $8 billion annually through resource recovery, according to the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Investment in the facilities needed to recover these materials remains limited. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) recorded approximately $370 million in private circular-economy investments across Africa between 2018 and 2024, covering selected transactions in packaging, electronics and textiles rather than the entire waste-management industry.

The World Bank’s What a Waste 3.0 report estimates that Sub-Saharan Africa collects approximately 31% of its municipal waste, while the amount generated is projected to increase by 124% by 2050.

Waste left outside formal collection systems rarely reaches recycling plants, restricting the supply of recoverable materials available to industrial processors.

Financing collection networks remains difficult for municipalities with limited waste-management budgets. Recycling businesses face separate costs for transporting materials, operating processing equipment and securing dependable supplies.

Without reliable collection arrangements and customers for recycled products, operators can struggle to obtain the financing needed to expand production.

The International Energy Agency’s November 11, 2026 report, released in connection with COP31, examines resource efficiency and circular-economy investment worldwide.

Its global assessment provides context for material recovery and recycling, although it does not quantify Africa’s waste-industry financing requirements.

Industrial investment is already reaching some African recycling businesses. The IFC has committed $37 million to Mohinani Group for recycled-plastic facilities in Ghana and Nigeria, with each plant designed to produce 15,000 tonnes of recycled PET annually.

The financing supports additional manufacturing capacity in two markets where collecting sufficient recyclable material remains an important operational requirement.

Africa’s Waste Collection Deficit Restricts Recycling Investment

Kinshasa generates approximately 12,000 tonnes of municipal waste daily, with 98% openly dumped or burned, according to the World Bank.

In April 2026, the lender approved $250 million for the city’s Kin la Belle programme to improve waste-management services and employment.

The financing targets municipal infrastructure in a city of more than 17 million people, with no disclosed allocation for commercial recycling factories.

Waste collection coverage varies considerably between African cities. Earlier World Bank data recorded collection rates of 20% in Monrovia, Liberia, and 30% in Lilongwe, Malawi, compared with 83% in Accra, Ghana.

These figures describe individual cities during earlier reporting periods, rather than national collection rates in 2026. The World Bank’s What a Waste 3.0 dataset provides more recent country-level information, although the reporting years differ.

The World Bank estimates that universal waste collection and environmentally sound disposal in middle-income countries require spending equivalent to approximately 0.3%–0.5% of GDP.

Reported public expenditure in most low- and middle-income countries remains below 0.15%. The figures cover waste-management services internationally and indicate the scale of the public financing challenge facing municipalities seeking to expand collection networks.

A 2026 Japan International Cooperation Agency survey found that private waste collectors in Monrovia receive payments directly from households and businesses.

Municipal authorities collect separate permit and disposal fees, while government budgets support landfill and sanitation projects. These arrangements leave collection operators dependent on customer payments for part of their revenue, with public infrastructure financed separately.

The IFC’s Circular Economy Investment Tracker identified 135 African transactions between 2018 and 2024, including 89 with disclosed investment values. Sixty of those transactions were worth $1 million or less.

The tracker covers selected investments in electronics, packaging and textiles, excluding many municipal waste-management contracts. Its transaction records cannot establish which African countries have received the least overall investment in waste infrastructure.

Recycling facilities require consistent deliveries of sorted plastics, metals and other recoverable materials. Where municipal collection is inadequate, processors must purchase supplies through smaller collection businesses or finance additional sourcing arrangements.

These costs affect the quantity and quality of materials reaching factories and the production volumes available to manufacturers purchasing recycled inputs.

Recycling Investments in Ghana and Nigeria Reveal Industrial Demand

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) announced a $37 million loan to Mohinani Group in February 2025 for recycled-plastic manufacturing in Ghana and Nigeria.

Its subsidiaries, Polytank Ghana and Sonnex Packaging Nigeria, are developing facilities designed to produce 15,000 tonnes of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin annually in each country. The material is intended for food and beverage packaging, reducing manufacturers’ requirements for virgin plastic.

IFC’s project disclosure, updated in February 2026, recorded the Ghanaian facility under construction at the Tema Free Zone Enclave and the Nigerian plant in the final construction phase at Ikorodu Industrial Estate. The lender recorded the investment in January 2026. Its disclosure did not confirm commercial production at either facility.

Mohinani has supply agreements with 12 franchised collection companies in Nigeria. Three collection centres in Ghana serve another eight franchised collectors.

These businesses purchase discarded plastic bottles from households, restaurants and other suppliers, then sort and bale them for delivery to the factories.

Mohinani supplies baling equipment and arranges transport, with approximately 90% of the plants’ raw materials expected to come from local collection businesses.

IFC projects that each facility could reduce annual imports by approximately $21 million once production reaches the intended scale. The projected savings depend on the plants’ output and manufacturers purchasing recycled resin in place of imported materials.

Mohinani’s existing packaging operations provide a potential market for production, although disclosed contracts do not specify the volumes individual customers have agreed to purchase.

South African recycler Extrupet opened a R200 million food-grade PET processing facility in Cape Town in October 2025. The investment added 15,000 tonnes of annual capacity, increasing the company’s stated recycled-PET production capacity to 45,000 tonnes.

Developed with Propet and Petco, the facility processes recovered plastic for packaging manufacturers, including customers seeking materials that meet recycled-content requirements.

Kenya’s Mr Green Africa operates a collection network purchasing discarded plastics from informal waste collectors before processing them for manufacturers.

The Global Innovation Fund has committed approximately $2.5 million to the business, including follow-on financing for expansion through 2025.

Its collection points provide payments to suppliers, while its processing operations generate revenue from the sale of recycled plastic to industrial customers.

High Operating Costs and Financing Risks Limit Waste Processing

The International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) original investment disclosure for Mohinani Group outlined financing of up to $55 million, including an IFC loan and funding through its Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program.

The project qualified for a first-loss guarantee of up to $13.8 million under the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) Private Sector Window.

IFC identified macroeconomic and operational risks, limited collateral and difficulties securing longer repayment periods as obstacles to commercial financing. The original package should not be counted as additional funding alongside the $37 million loan subsequently announced.

The financing assessment covered recycling facilities in Ghana and Nigeria, alongside working capital for Mohinani’s chemicals and polymers distribution operations.

IFC identified the need for longer loan tenors and grace periods that were difficult to obtain from local lenders. The guarantee arrangement was intended to reduce financing risks for a manufacturer already operating in both countries.

An IFC-supported study of Nigeria’s plastics industry estimated electricity costs for recycling operations at $0.10–$0.25 per kilowatt-hour, depending on the power source. Diesel generation accounted for the higher costs.

The study also recorded borrowing rates of 16%–20% for some operators, compared with rates as low as 10% for larger businesses with stronger financial positions. These historical industry estimates do not represent current tariffs or Mohinani’s actual operating costs.

The Nigerian assessment estimated PET flake costs at $300–$360 per tonne. Recycling companies must recover the cost of purchasing discarded bottles, sorting and transporting them, and operating processing equipment before selling recycled materials to manufacturers.

Competition from virgin plastic affects the prices processors can obtain, particularly when collection and electricity costs increase. The study’s price estimates are historical rather than November 2026 market quotations.

IFC’s environmental disclosure records that Mohinani supplies motorised baling machines to franchised collectors and arranges transport of compressed PET bottles to its factories.

Collection businesses purchase discarded materials from smaller suppliers and maintain sorting operations. These arrangements require equipment and working capital before the recovered plastic generates revenue from industrial customers.

The African Development Bank supported an organic fertiliser and energy project in Ashaiman, Ghana, designed to process 9,000 tonnes of waste annually and produce 500 tonnes of biofertiliser.

Its planned biogas generation capacity was 580,000 kilowatt-hours annually, with electricity intended for the local grid. The project’s disclosed arrangements include revenue opportunities from fertiliser and energy production, although its current commercial output has not been verified.

Africa’s Waste Industry Seeks Larger Investment Commitments

The African Development Bank (AfDB) is preparing the next phase of its Africa Circular Economy Facility for 2027–2032, covering project preparation, feasibility studies and market development. Its October 2026 update identified regulatory uncertainty, limited market data and weak contractual arrangements among the obstacles facing circular-economy investors.

The bank has not disclosed an approved financing allocation for the proposed phase or identified commercial recycling plants receiving construction funding under it.

On November 2, AfDB identified nine businesses in its first AfriCircular Growth Programme cohort seeking a combined $11.65 million. Togo’s GIP-Togo plans to increase recycled-material production from 300 to 500 tonnes monthly, while Angola’s NARISREC is seeking capital for electronic-waste recycling expansion.

Participating companies will receive financial-model development support and introductions to at least ten potential investors each. The funding requirements remain unmet in the programme’s disclosed announcement.

The $60 million Global Electronics Management Programme, launched in October 2026, covers 16 countries worldwide, including nine African participants: Botswana, Djibouti, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Somalia and South Africa.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility and implemented through the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, the programme supports electronic-waste collection, repair, recycling and regulatory improvements. The announced allocation covers the international programme rather than direct financing for African commercial recycling factories.

South Africa’s extended producer responsibility system provides a separate source of collection financing. Packaging manufacturers contribute fees through organisations such as Petco, which set its 2026 charge for PET beverage bottles at R773 per tonne.

Petco reported diverting 86,000 cubic metres of post-consumer packaging from landfill in 2025, supported by producer contributions. The payments help finance collection and recovery activities through industry-funded arrangements.

The AfriCircular businesses provide a defined pipeline of recycling investments seeking capital. GIP-Togo’s planned capacity expansion and NARISREC’s electronic-waste operations will depend on financing agreements that have yet to be announced.

Their progress will indicate whether the AfDB’s investor-matching programme can move beyond project preparation to support additional commercial processing capacity.

Africa’s estimated $8 billion annual waste-recovery potential remains substantially larger than the investment commitments identified in these programmes.

The immediate test is whether companies already collecting and processing recoverable materials can secure expansion funding and increase production for industrial customers.