Azizu Recycling – turning e-waste into economic value
The company has invested around Tk150 crore to establish a state-of-the-art recycling facility in Narayanganj, equipped to handle a wide range of e-waste materials
While most see piles of trash, a few see treasure. Azizu Recycling & E-Waste Company is one of them. Amid Bangladesh's growing tech junk, it saw a business opportunity — turning discarded electronics into reusable raw materials for industries.
The company has invested around Tk150 crore to establish a state-of-the-art recycling facility in Narayanganj, equipped to handle a wide range of e-waste materials.
Partnered with Singapore's TES-AMM, Azizu brings global expertise to Bangladesh's e-waste sector, which experts estimate has a $500 million annual potential, since only a small portion of the country's e-waste is formally recycled.
Among Azizu's core offerings are e-waste collection and recycling, on-site disposal solutions, industrial waste reuse, hard disk and solid-state drive degaussing, and secure hard drive shredding.
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Founded in 2013, Azizu now has the capacity to process 7,000 tonnes of e-waste annually. However, due to inadequate collection systems and inconsistent supply of quality e-waste, the facility is currently operating at just 30% of its capacity, according to Hossain Al-Mamun, general manager of the company.
A visit to the facility revealed that various types of electronic waste — such as PCs, monitors, printers, and similar devices — are dismantled to extract the metal components inside.
These metals are then melted down and transformed into ingots (a block of steel, gold, silver, or other metal), which are sold in the market as finished products.
Azizu Recycling doesn't rely solely on individuals or local businesses for e-waste collection. It also sources outdated and unusable components from major corporate entities such as Grameenphone, Banglalink, and Robi, as well as electronics suppliers.
The recycled materials are later supplied to companies like Walton, Kiam, Poly Cables, re-rolling mills, and various plastic factories.
Azizu Recycling GM Hossain Al-Mamun said, "Although there are other e-waste recycling factories in Bangladesh, most of them do not carry out full-scale recycling. We outsource raw materials from them, melt them down in our own facility, produce finished goods, and supply them to the local market."
He added that some of the materials are further processed and sent to Singapore, where they are converted into fully finished products.
Hossain said, "Recycling should always follow environmentally friendly methods, which we strictly adhere to. However, the biggest challenge is sourcing quality raw materials. While corporate entities maintain quality standards in their e-waste, local collectors do not, making much of their scrap unusable for our facility."
$500m annual market
Experts believe formalising Bangladesh's e-waste management could unlock as much as $500 million in annual economic value.
At a seminar in Dhaka in October 2024, marking the International E-waste Day, experts said that compliant e-waste recycling could help Bangladesh unlock that potential if the country formally manages all its electrical and electronic waste, which is currently either being informally recycled or discarded into the environment.
WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Society Bangladesh organised that event. According to the organisation, in 2022, the country generated 367 million kilograms of e-waste, growing by 3.4% annually, yet only 0.5% was officially recycled.
Speaking to TBS, Akter Ul Alam, general secretary of the WEEE Society-Bangladesh, said each kilogram of e-waste contains more than $1 worth of recoverable raw materials, but 80–90% of that value is consumed by collection and processing costs. While recycling is costly, the long-term environmental and health costs of mismanagement are far higher.
With the right policies, incentives, and investments, industry experts estimate that the sector could yield $40–50 million in annual profit, he added.
Annually, around 3,000 tonnes of e-waste from the telecom industry are formally collected and recycled in Bangladesh, said Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission Chairman Maj Gen (retired) Emdad Ul Bari, at the event.
He also emphasised the need for nationwide awareness regarding all other types of e-waste.
Companies like Azizu — along with other formal recyclers — are proving that sustainable waste management is not just environmentally responsible, but also economically smart.
Other key players in Bangladesh's e-waste recycling
Several companies in Bangladesh are working in the e-waste management and recycling sector using environmentally friendly and safe methods.
Among the leading names is JR Enterprise, which collects and processes e-waste.
M/S Zaman Enterprise focuses on reusing electronic waste, while SGS Bangladesh Limited works at the corporate level, ensuring quality control and safe recycling practices.
Yousuf Enterprise is also contributing by collecting and processing e-waste at the local level. These companies are playing a vital role in raising awareness and promoting sustainable development in Bangladesh's e-waste management ecosystem.
