Falcon Packaging Ltd has injected two million US dollars in the packaging industry in a strategic drive geared to complement government-backed initiatives aimed at improving the performance of business and industrial sectors.

The investment is for production of well-designed

packaging materials for domestic and industrial uses. "We have decided to come up with high quality packaging materials which can survive stiff competition in both domestic and foreign markets," Managing Director of Falcon Packaging Ltd, Geneshan Vedagiri, told reporters at the company's premises in Mwanza over the weekend.

Acccording to Vedagiri, prior to establishing Falcon Packaging Ltd, a subsidiary of Alpha Group of Companies, a meat and fish processing company, the company was importing packaging materials from neighbouring Kenya, for our fish factories based in Mwanza, Dar es Salaam, Mafia and southern regions.

The investment is in line with President Jakaya Kikwete's repeated call on private sector players to support the government in bolstering the performance of key sectors--business, industry, infrastructure, energy-- through massive investments and modern technologies.

The Importation of packaging materials cost the factories a lot of money, he said, prompting the companies to form Falcon Packaging Ltd which produces materials "for our factories and export other materials to some East African countries, including Uganda."

The company's MD also said they have recently invested in environmentallyfriendly project of converting plastic waste into green-wood products. The company collects wastes from the surrounding communities and produces the so-called greenwood, which can be used for making long-life and economical furniture such as school desks, hospital beds, garden chairs etc.

This project, Vedagiri said, enables people to access environmentally-friendly furnitures, create jobs for Tanzanians who supply plastic wastes to the company and supports government strategies in the protection of environment.

He also appealed to all the business houses to assist them and use environment friendly green wood furniture, wherever possible and consider it "under their corporate social responsibility programme. "Today the whole world is trying for tree plantation for saving the environment and our effort through this project is one step ahead to save the grown up trees," he noted.