An eco-friendly e-waste recycling solution

A young graduate of Dhaka University named M A Hossain went to Australia after his MBA in 1995 with a dream of leading a decent life in a foreign country.

He joined a recycling company there which was a source of inspiration for him to become an entrepreneur.

He witnessed that citizens kept e-waste into a designated bin and corporate companies collected them to recycle commercially protecting the environment.

He also noticed that a large number of eco-friendly industries developed there commercially.

But when he looked at the scenario of Bangladesh where e-waste were being dumped here and there polluting the environment he found a potential sector untapped in the country.

He realized the prospect of e-waste market in Bangladesh as the country was gaining traction with more and more digitalization.

He decided to develop an eco-friendly e-waste recycling industry in Bangladesh following his experience of the industry in a foreign land.

Ultimately, he left Australia in 2002 with a dream of developing his own business in Bangladesh.

After coming to Bangladesh he noticed some manufacturers recycling e-waste in a very traditional way of burning e-waste.

This traditional way of recycling pollutes the environment and the recovery rates of this way is very poor. As a result, the country was being deprived of commercial prospect of e-waste.

Though he was involved in another business after coming back to Bangladesh his mind was absorbed in e-waste recycling business.

He focused on the market research of e-waste recycling in Bangladesh for several years and then he tried to find out the market prospect and challenges of the industry.

Eventually, he launched his dream project named JR Recycling Solutions Ltd at Mirpur in 2011 in the capital on some 17 acres of land. Now it has a dedicated 22000sqft warehouse located in Savar where 250 employees work all day long.

JR Recycling Solutions Ltd turned itself into one of the biggest e-waste recycling companies in the country, enjoying a Tk33.15 crore ($3.5 million) annual turnover.

The industry recovers precious metals such as gold, silver, palladium and to a lesser extent platinum, copper, aluminum, nickel, tin, zinc and iron ensuring better health and a safe environment.

From beginning to the zenith of success

The name of the company is JR Recycling Solutions Ltd. The ‘J’ comes from the nickname Jewel of M A Hossain and ‘R’ from Roza, his elder daughter.

At the onset of the project the company faced various challenges including lack of raw materials, loan and policy for the industry. But he never gave up hope as he had enough experience of the industry.

The company began to collect raw materials from different companies of telecom industry through tender. But this was not enough for a company.

While many companies were burning e-waste and polluting the environment it focused on environment-friendly e-waste recycling solution.

Consequently, the company drew the attention of global e-waste recycling giants and started to collect raw materials from the global recycling companies too.

The company is planning to ensure maximum use of raw materials commercially. This is why it is planning to develop an e-waste plant at a cost of nearly TK100 crore.

To implement the project the company received 2.5 acres of land in Kaliakoir Hi tech Park. The company is dreaming big now to turn waste into wealth and generate huge employment opportunity for the country if the plant is implemented.

Under this project it has planned to collect e-waste from the whole country in a systematic way and to ensure the collection it needs government collaboration.

Local partner of global giant companies

The company has already drawn the attention of global giant companies as it is recycling e-waste following the modern method putting priority to the environment.

It has a strong collaboration with the top global recycling companies to recycle e-waste as a local partner.

The global companies set strong conditions while offering e-waste to local manufactures. As it is complying with the conditions while recycling it is increasingly receiving more and more orders from the global recycling companies.

Currently, the company is working with at least 10 global recycling companies including Sims Recycling Solutions, Dynamic Recycling, Enviroserve, Umicore, Anchor Disposal, Mitsui etc.

Local multinational companies are offering e-waste to the global recycling companies while the global recyclers are referring the works to the local partners.

The global recycling companies are keeping JR on their list due to its performance. The global companies are suggesting how to recycle and the local companies are following them.

“The global recycling companies are keeping us on their list as we are recycling following scientific method and focusing on environment protection. We have a strong collaboration with global recycling companies and it is a great opportunity to enrich us with the collaboration of global companies,” M A Hossain said.

2.5 acres land at High Tech Park to develop plant

The government is assisting in promoting recycle of e-waste in different ways. As part of this, the company has been able to get assistance from the government as well. The Bangladesh Hi-tech Park authorities have allocated 2.5 acres of land in the Bangabandhu Hi-Tech City to expand JR Recycling Solution’s operation.

Here, e-waste treatment plant will be established. Under this plant e-waste from the whole country will be collected and there will be stations from Thana level to Division to collect e-waste from door to door, said M A Hossain.

There will be a strong team involved in the whole collection method. The plant will also generate employment for a significant number of people. The company is hoping to generate employment for at least 50,000 people if the plant is successful.

“We have been offered investments from different companies but we are not receiving them as we are still suffering from raw materials crises. The government must take steps to stop export of raw materials to help the local industry to grow.”

It needs the government support and public-private partnership to implement the plant, said Md Manzoor Hasan, General Manager (operation), of the company.

Contribution to forming policy

Coming back to Bangladesh M A Hossain noticed that there was no policy to recycle e-waste in Bangladesh. Local manufactures were recycling e-waste in traditional method.

To ensure a big recovery and recycle e-waste scientifically he realized a policy guideline to recycle e-waste in the country. He raised his voice to develop a policy in different seminars and symposiums. Finally, the government made two different policies for recycling e-waste recently.

One policy was formed by Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission this year while the other by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in 2021.

The policies classified the e-waste and directed the recycling companies to recycle e-waste scientifically protecting the environment.

Bangladesh is lagging behind in recycling e-waste. But the country has moved one step ahead after developing the e-waste policy. It is not enough to form a policy but it needs to be implemented accurately.

“We have to reform the policy in the course of time following the recommendations of experts,” said M A Hossain.

Initial challenges

JR recycling company was one of the first developed recycling companies of Bangladesh. From the very beginning its focus was on scientific e-waste recycling by protecting the environment. This is why the company had to face different challenges.

The citizens dump e-waste here and there as there is lack of consciousness of its overall environmental impact. This is why it turned out to be one of the biggest challenges for the company to find raw materials.

On the other hand, while local manufactures are suffering due to lack of raw materials a significant portion of e-waste is being exported to the global market. This is a big factor for the local industries.

The industry needs at least Tk100 crore to develop an e-waste recycling plant. But no one is willing to provide loan to the e-waste manufactures.

One year back there was no policy for the local industry. As a result, there were no instructions in manufacturing e-waste. This also hampered the manufacturing tremendously.

How were the challenges overcome?

JR Recycling Solution Ltd has been working in this sector with the aim of recycling all kinds of e-waste such as home appliances, information technology, telecommunication equipment, consumer electronic devices and other medium and small-sized electrical and electronic equipment for last ten years.

It is strictly following the government-imposed rules and regulations. It has a strong focus on environment.

The company follows scientific methods while recycling e-waste. This is why its recovery rate is very satisfactory. It trains its employees in segregating and separating e-waste successfully.

In the warehouse, it has an export processing zone equipped with the necessary protection for all workers. To ensure the safety the workers have been brought under group insurance policy.

They are working to educate both rural and urban people. Recently, Jr Recycling signed a memorandum with Edison Industries Limited for their e-waste management.

Some of the renowned companies of our country such as RobiAxiata Limited, Banglalink and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) also take services from it.

Junior trained employees itemize and recycle their electronic waste by maintaining an environment-friendly process.

Each year they collect 10000MTs of e-waste from multiple sources and export approximately 100 MTs of e-waste to different countries.