What made you decide to start BPCL?
The idea first came into my mind after learning about the plastic bottle recycling industry in China. Having done some research, I found out that waste bottles from all over the world were exported to China. These were recycled into PET resin or polyester and exported to many countries, including Bangladesh. I later learned that countries like Germany, Austria and Italy also recycled their own plastic bottle waste and re-used them.
During a visit to Europe, I visited plants in all three countries and looked closely how these businesses work. That’s when I decided to start a similar business in Bangladesh.
What major challenges did BPCL have to face in the initial stages of business?
Initially we had a difficult time sourcing our raw material. The waste collectors and sellers were very short-sighted and lacked professionalism. They did not keep their promises and always wanted to deal in cash, contrary to our corporate culture of paying through a bank account. Training that supply chain from being a very short term cash based business into a long term credit based business was not easy. However, our reputation prevailed and we won the trust of our suppliers.
We faced a lot of regulatory issues regarding this. Waste scavengers do not have trade licenses, incorporation certificates, or TIN certificates, so government bodies’ claim that there was no legality in the manner the raw materials were bought. Lack of such regulatory framework makes it very difficult to run this business in Bangladesh.
Another issue with our society is that we look at waste in a very negative light. Unless we change our mentality, talking about waste and deciding on proper recycling procedures will not be possible. Recycled products are also considered dirty – to the point where our customers who use recycled PET resin avoid talking about this. However, in the Western countries, people are proud of using recycled products.
What sort of government support do you think is necessary to support recycling initiatives in Bangladesh?
Recycling is expensive. Unless the government steps forward and subsidizes the industry, the private sector alone will not be able to do anything. No private company wants to take loans on high interest to recycle and provide a product that nobody is willing to buy because of the high price. Government support will help reduce expenses and in turn the price of recycled products. The government should also formulate detailed policies regarding recycling and implement them properly.
How urgent and important is it to improve the recycling industry of Bangladesh?
When I was a child, I remember seeing dolphins in the Shitalokkha river. I do not see them anymore. I am pretty sure Dhaleshwari is next. Very soon, we are going to lose all our rivers and our country will become very badly polluted. Once our environment is destroyed, no amount of recycling efforts will be sufficient to restore it to the previous state.
How is BPCL planning to raise awareness about this issue?
I think everyone is aware. What is important is that people act on this awareness. We are currently trying, in the process of launching a small scale project in a few areas, to collect plastic waste on a weekly basis from people’s homes. We will be launching a mobile app to let people know when our collection trucks will be present in their neighbourhood. We want to start with Gulshan, Baridhara, and Banani, and based on the response, we will start expanding to other areas.
We are also planning to provide trash cans to different companies and encourage them to throw their plastic bottle waste in them and inform us once the cans are full.
