Geocycle is Poised to Play a Significant Role in Sustainable Waste Management in Bangladesh

Geocycle is uniquely positioned to address the national waste problems. It is the part of the worldwide network of Geocycle that uses existing integrated cement plants for sustainable waste management. In Bangladesh, we have been offering our professional services in the field of waste management since 2012. Geocycle provides co-processing services at its Chhatak plant - the country’s sole integrated cement plant - enabling the management of wastes in a safe and environmentally sound manner. With the expansion of industrial base and population growth in Bangladesh, increasingly larger volumes of waste are generated. For Geocycle Bangladesh, this creates an opportunity to actively contribute to responsible waste management by following a sustainable approach.

 

Bangladesh faces a serious problem with solid waste management. The metropolitan centers produce roughly 23,688 tons of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) per day, of which organic solid waste accounts for over 70%. The major portion of the waste generated be it industrial waste, plastic waste or municipal solid waste cannot be re-purposed or recycled and has to be disposed of in an environment-friendly way. This is where co-processing comes to the forefront. Cement Kilns have played a major part in sustainable waste disposal for ages where the high temperature of the cement kiln – 1050-2000 Deg C is used for burning the waste ensuring complete disposal with a destruction and removal efficiency of more than 99.99%. Moreover the residual ashes are absorbed in the cement matrix ensuring no additional ash is landfilled. The entire gas effluent is run through appropriate pollution control devices which ensures no additional pollution to the environment. In short, whatever goes in doesn’t come out.

 

Geocycle being the only waste management facility approved by the Department of Environment (DoE), has been providing co-processing services to some of Bangladesh’s leading oil & gas, pharmaceutical, agro product, food and consumer goods companies such as Nestlé, Chevron, Beximco Pharma, Novartis, Renata, Syngenta, British American Tobacco, Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser and many more. We have invested Tk35 crore in setting up the state-of-the-art waste management facility. This ensures adequate storage, safe handling, globally recognized pre-processing, and environment-friendly disposal through co-processing. We have increased our capacity to handle and dispose of 1000 MT of waste per day with additional investments in the pipeline. We hope to further improve our capacity. This year through our operation we have co-processed approximately 20,000 MT of solid waste.

 

Rajesh Surana, CEO of LafargeHolcim Bangladesh mentioned “We envision Geocycle to be the major partner with the Government in handling the waste management challenges. We want to create partnerships with more local and foreign companies operating in Bangladesh as well to create a zero waste future by addressing the national waste problems.”

 

We conduct our activities professionally and responsibly, carefully managing the risks of our business. This protects our employees, communities and the environment in which we operate and safeguards and enhances the reputation of our customers. Geocycle is an initiative of LafargeHolcim Bangladesh which is committed towards the motto of a cleaner and greener Bangladesh

 

 

He is a versatile global business executive with a unique balance of strategic and operational experience. Rajesh Surana has over two decades of work experience in leading multinational Companies. As the CEO and member of the Company’s Board of Directors, he drives the Company’s strong multicultural and diverse leadership team and leads the development and execution of long-term strategies with the goal of increasing shareholder value. He sets the tone from the top to ensure that Health and Safety remain at the centre of the Company activities, the Company’s Code of Conduct is adhered to all the times and all safeguards are in place for the Company to operate with integrity and with sustainable business practices. Rajesh Surana is an undergraduate in Commerce from Delhi University and Fellow Member of Institute of Company Secretaries of India and Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.