Aruwa Capital backs Polysmart to scale Nigeria's $60M rPET recycling push
What's the deal? Aruwa CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Management has invested in Polysmart Packaging, a Nigerian plastic recycling and packaging company, to fund its expansion. The Lagos-based private equity firm led the deal through its second fund, Aruwa Capital Fund II, in December 2025.
What does Polysmart do? Founded in 2013 as a flexible packaging business, it now produces food-grade recycled PET (rPET) flakes and resin pellets for beverage and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturers. The pitch: a local alternative to imported virgin plastic.
Why now? The capital helped Polysmart commission Phase 1 of its expanded facility in Mowe, Ogun State, on October 29, 2026. The plant is the first phase of a $60 million project designed to process up to 100,000 tonnes of post-consumer PET a year.
What's the endgame? Polysmart targets 60,000 tonnes of food-grade rPET annually at full capacity, built to meet US Food and Drug Administration and European Food Safety Authority standards. It projects the output could cut Nigeria's spending on imported virgin resin by $72 million a year.
"Polysmart is proof that world-class manufacturing can be built, owned and run in Nigeria," said Adesuwa Okunbo Rhodes, founder and managing partner of Aruwa, who also joined the company's board. Founder and chief executive officer Wasiu Balogun called the firm "far more than a capital partner."
What could go wrong? Scale depends on feedstock. Polysmart runs 25 waste aggregation centres across eight states and plans 250 more within two years to keep the plant supplied — a build-out that hinges on reliable bottle collection.
The signal: Nigeria's recycled-plastics market is drawing bigger industrial bets. A planned Lagos facility involving Indorama VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Nigerian BreweriesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Genesis EnergyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → targets 45,000 tonnes of food-grade rPET a year from 2027. The open question is whether collection systems and buyer demand grow fast enough to keep the new plants running.
Read more: innovation-village.com
Image credit: EU-Ukraine cooperation
