Home ›› 12 Aug 2022 ›› Front
Keeping pace with the digitalisation of the country, usage of various electronic gadgets in everyday life is increasing rapidly day by day, ultimately generating a huge amount of e-waste annually.
But the huge potential of the e-waste recycling industry is still untapped as only 3 per cent of the total e-waste generated in the country is recycled which is much lower than other developing countries, according to a recent survey conducted by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).
Bangladesh, one of top 10 e-scraps producing country in the world, generates three million metric tonnes (MMT) of e-waste every year. The annual growth of e-waste generation is 30% per cent in the country, said the BUET survey.
Industry insiders say, at present, the e-waste recycling industry is worth Tk 150 crore with and its annual growth is 15 per cent. The country presently exports recycled items to the USA, Japan, Singapore, India and Pakistan.
Mobile phones generate highest 10.5 kilotons of e-waste, TV sets stake 1.7 lakh tonnes, and ship breaking yards generate more than 25 lakh tonnes of e-waste each year, said the BUET survey, titled “Sustainable Technology and Entrepreneurship”.
Mobile and computer PCB-based metal recovery business in the country will be worth around $1 billion by 2030, said the survey.
The e-waste or damaged electronic goods include cell phones, computers, TVs, DVD players, stereos, printers, microwaves, refrigerators, air conditioners, lamps, toys, video-game consoles, power tools etc.
Azizu Trading Co, Yousuf Enterprise, Green Bangla Corporation, JR Recycling Solutions Ltd JR Enterprise, Zaman Enterprise, Techno Fair and NH Enterprise are among the top e-waste recycling companies in Bangladesh. Various raw materials for manufacturing the similar products and various industrial uses are made from the e-wastes.
“When someone comes to sell a damaged computer or laptop, we buy it at a lower price; the customer can purchase a new one adding some money to whatever they get from us. Later, we first separate the parts reusable for another computer service. And then, we usually sell the spare parts to the hawkers or brokers,” said Shahin Alam, a salesman at Star Technology in the capital’s Elephant Road.
Potential huge, mostly remain untapped
Over the last decade, Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in digitalising the public and private sectors, resulting in the growing usage of various electronic gadgets in the industrial as well as household level.
“We collect the unusable mobile handsets, PCBs (printed circuit board) of computer or CRT monitors through the hawkers. We extract three items — fibre, metal and plastic — from those PCBs with our electro processing machine. These three items are used as raw materials for new or another similar product,” said Md Abul Kalam Azad, chairman of Azizu Group.
In other countries, authorities provide cash incentives e-waste recycling industry, but in our country we do not get this benefit, he added.
JR Recycling Solutions Ltd is one of the biggest and oldest e-waste recycling companies in the country, enjoying a Tk 33.15 crore ($3.5 million) annual turnover.
Md Manzoor Hasan, general manager (operation) of the company, said, “We recycled 250 to 300 tonnes of e-waste in 2021 and, hopefully, it will increase more this year.”
“The country’s e-waste business market is Tk 150 crore at present and enjoying a 15% annual growth,” he informed.
E-waste source of valuable metals
The e-waste consists of valuable metals which have huge commercial value as the metals can be used in different industries to manufacture similar new products.
The e-waste consists of roughly 20 components in the form of metals and multi-material elements including gold, silver, iron, copper, aluminium, nickel, zinc etc, according to a study, titled “E-waste as a source of valuable metals”, published on Archives of Materials Science and Engineering.
Poor recovery due to lack of technology
Recycling industry requires automation and advanced technology. The local recyclers can recover a very few metals as they do it manually. The recovery rate in the country’s e-waste recycling industry is poor compared to the developed countries.
Jashim Ahamed, CEO of Yousuf Enterprise, said, “The recovery rate is 60 per cent if the metal is extracted manually from the e-waste, but 90 per cent can be recovered if the process is automated. Due to the lack of technology, we have to export the valuable motherboard to USA, Japan, Singapore, India and Pakistan.”
Saidur Rahman Shahin, managing director of Azizu Recycling & E-Waste Company Ltd, said, “There is a huge prospect in e-waste recycling business as there are nearly 20 types of metal including gold in a device. But we cannot recover all metals due to the lack of technology and big investment. We are recovering only some 11 types of metal in our factory.”
Industry suffers raw materials shortage
With massive digitalisation of the country, the use of electric and electronic products is increasing in the country. Although Bangladesh generates a huge amount of e-waste, the local recyclers face a shortage of raw materials which is discouraging the industry insiders to come with big investment.
Md Manzoor Hasan, general manager (operation) of JR Recycling Solutions Ltd, said that they are not getting e-waste at the amount they need.
“A significant portion of e-waste is going to China and India illegally. The products which are collected from the rural areas are going outside the country, depriving us of the necessary amount of raw materials,” Manzoor added.
Jashim Ahamed, CEO of Yousuf Enterprise, said that the amount of e-waste they collect from the operating companies through tenders and from the retailers is very poor compared to the demand.
“If we install high-quality machine, the amount of raw materials which we collect in six months will be needed in a day. Proper collection and consciousness is needed to ensure raw materials available,” he added.
Posts and Telecommunications minister Mustafa Jabbar told The Business Post “Cash incentives should be provided to the e-waste recyclers so that recycling companies or manufacturers can operate their own e-waste collection centres from where people would get minimum amount for their damaged e-products.”
“Concerned ministry has to frame specific regulations and policy to support the e-waste management and business as they did for plastic or other environmentally hazardous products,” he added.
Environmental risks if not properly managed
What makes e-waste different from general waste is that e-waste comprises a multitude of components carrying toxic substances like zinc, lead, cadmium, chromium etc. If e-wastes are burnt or end up in landfills, these toxic substances can cause severe health risks, besides polluting the soil and air.
Bangladesh Country Director at Pure Earth Mahfuzar Rahman said, “Although Bangladesh ranks 10th globally, e-waste management is now controlled by informal sectors which are around 97 per cent of the total, employing low-paid workers and risky processing step, a formal collection system has to be developed here.”
“The government needs to properly monitor and enhance e-waste management at ground level and e-waste collection system and information resource based on survey and research system has to be built,” said the environment expert.
“After 40 years of independence, Bangladesh formulated the first draft of ‘e-waste management rules’ in 2011. However, the regulations have not been implemented properly, hindering the growth of e-waste recycling industry in Bangladesh,” he said.
The industry insiders said a regulatory body is necessary to develop a sustainable and integrated e-waste management system. They urged the authorities to allow them to import e-wastes from abroad for their factories.
Mirza Saokat Ali, Director at Environment Department, however, opposed the idea of e-waste import. He said, “Huge amount of e-wastes are generated in the country, Majority portion of the e-wastes are not recycled. If the local recyclers can properly manage those e-wastes, the government will certainly take necessary initiatives.”
