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AyRojgar

E-waste recycling

Recovering metals from discarded phones, televisions, fridges and computers. The Hazardous Waste (E-waste) Management Rules 2021 make Department of Environment registration and clearance compulsory; operating without it carries up to two years in prison or a Tk 200,000 fine or both.

  • Last reviewed: 21 September 2026
  • Version 1
E-waste recycling

E-waste recycling

Starting capital
৳10,00,000 – ৳3,00,00,000
Editorial estimate
Manpower
5 – 40 people
First sale
120 – 540 days
Editorial estimate
Break-even
9 – 36 months
Editorial estimate
Kind of work
Workshop · Hard

About the business

Taking copper, aluminium, iron, plastic and traces of gold and silver out of discarded phones, televisions, fridges, computers and factory machinery, and selling them on. In Bangladesh this work has two faces, and the distance between them is enormous. The first is the lawful route. On 10 June 2021 the Department of Environment issued the Hazardous Waste (E-waste) Management Rules 2021 under the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995. Under them every manufacturer, assembler, importer, collection centre, transporter, repairer, dismantler, recycler, trader and shopkeeper must register with the Department of Environment on a prescribed form, submit a WEEE management plan with the application, and once registered obtain environmental clearance under the Environment Conservation Rules. Manufacturers and importers carry collection targets fixed in the schedule: 10 percent in the first year, 20 in the second, 30 in the third, 40 in the fourth and 50 percent from the fifth year onward. A violation carries up to two years' imprisonment or a fine of up to Tk 200,000 or both, and a repeat offence two to ten years or a fine of Tk 200,000 to Tk 1,000,000. The second face is illegal and lethal. Ninety-seven percent of the country's e-waste goes through informal hands and only three percent reaches a formal facility. Burning cable in the open to free the copper, and washing circuit boards in acid to lift the gold, are ordinary practice there, and the workers do it bare-handed without masks. Indoor dust and air in Dhaka's e-waste shops carry far higher lead and copper than other shops, and workers spend an average of about seven and a half hours a working day breathing it. So the first question in this trade is not about money. It is about which of the two roads you are taking.

Unit economics

ItemRangeEvidenceSuggest a correction
Monthly working capital৳6,00,000 – ৳12,00,000Editorial estimate
Selling price৳164 – ৳167 / kgEditorial estimate
Variable cost৳60 – ৳90 / kgEditorial estimate
Gross margin45% – 64%Editorial estimate
Time to first revenue120 – 540 daysEditorial estimate
Break-even time9 – 36 monthsEditorial estimate
Cash cycle21 – 60 daysEditorial estimate
Waste / loss10% – 25%Editorial estimate
Daily capacity385 – 1,540Editorial estimate

What you need to start

  • Hand dismantling tools (screwdrivers, cutters, wire cutters), magnets and sorting bins, a weighing scale, dust containment, fire extinguishers, and gloves, masks and eye protection for every worker. Prices could not be verified here.Equipment
  • Environmental clearance: under the Environment Conservation Rules a registered manufacturer or recycler must separately obtain clearance (Form-3 for site and environmental clearance, Form-5 for renewal). The investment-based fee schedule could not be verified here.Licence
  • Trade licence from the city corporation, municipality or union parishad: form Tk 50, licence fee Tk 200-26,000 by business type, Tk 230-1,500 in a union parishad, valid one financial year, issued in 3 working days.Licence
  • Department of Environment registration under the Hazardous Waste (E-waste) Management Rules 2021, issued 10-06-2021 under the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995. It is compulsory for manufacturers, assemblers, importers, collection centres, transporters, repairers, dismantlers, recyclers, traders, shopkeepers, auctioneers and exporters. A WEEE management plan must go with the application. The registration fee and validity are not given in the published summaries of the rules and must be checked with the Department of Environment.Licence
  • Knowing which metal sits where in which device, and separating what is dangerous: batteries, CRT monitor glass, mercury lamps and capacitors. The cadmium in a single mobile phone battery is enough to pollute 600 cubic metres of water.Skill
  • A steady source of material: auctions from corporate offices, banks, mobile operators and government departments, and the neighbourhood scrap collectors. Because 97 percent of the country's e-waste goes through informal hands, a registered plant has to bid against them for supply.Supplier
  • A separate shed with a solid floor and roof, where rain does not enter and nothing leaches through the floor. A locked area apart for batteries, circuit boards and mercury lamps, and a defined room for hazardous residue. This work cannot be done in the middle of a residential area.Workspace

How the work is done

  1. 1Decide at the outset that you are going the registered route. Under the E-waste Rules 2021, registration with the Department of Environment is compulsory for collection centres, transporters, dismantlers, recyclers, traders and shopkeepers alike. Working without it carries up to two years' imprisonment or a Tk 200,000 fine or both.
  2. 2Get the trade licence and company registration done: form Tk 50, licence fee Tk 200-26,000 by business type, issued in 3 working days. For heavier industry the local authority's fee may differ.
  3. 3Write the WEEE management plan: where the waste comes from, how it is dismantled, where each fraction goes, and how the hazardous residue is disposed of. It has to go in with the registration application.
  4. 4Apply to the Department of Environment on the prescribed form. Even after registration a separate environmental clearance is needed; the two are not the same thing, and the rules publish a deadline for neither.
  5. 5Take a shed with a solid floor and a roof, where rain does not get in and nothing leaches through the floor into the ground. Keep a separate locked area for batteries and circuit boards.
  6. 6Start with hand dismantling tools: screwdrivers, cutters, wire cutters, magnets, a scale and sorting bins. Smelting or acid extraction cannot be done without clearance.
  7. 7Give every worker gloves, a mask, eye protection and a change of clothes, and provide somewhere to wash. Lead and copper in the dust and air of Dhaka's e-waste shops measure far above other shops; this is a health matter, not a formality.
  8. 8Never burn cable in the open or wash boards in acid. Those two are the commonest practices in the informal sector, and they are what destroy workers' lungs and nerves along with the soil and water around them.
  9. 9Tie down the supply: auctions from corporate offices, banks, mobile operators and government departments, and the neighbourhood scrap shops. Being registered is what makes large organisations want to give you the material, because they carry collection targets of their own.
  10. 10Line up the buyers before you buy the material: copper and aluminium wholesalers, re-rolling mills, plastic granule factories. Filling a godown without buyers leaves the money locked in stock.
  11. 11Record the weight, source and destination of every consignment. Inspection under the rules asks for exactly this ledger, and without an account of where the hazardous residue went the registration is at risk.
  12. 12Keep fluorescent and mercury lamps apart. The rules say that where they cannot be recycled they must be handed to a collection centre for storage and disposal. Mixed with other waste they make the whole consignment hazardous.

Seasons

  1. JanNormal
  2. FebNormal
  3. MarNormal
  4. AprNormal
  5. MayNormal
  6. JunHigh
  7. JulNormal
  8. AugLow
  9. SepLow
  10. OctNormal
  11. NovNormal
  12. DecHigh
HighNormalLow

Where it works well

  • Strong fitChattogram · The port and the Sitakunda ship-breaking yards create a heavy flow of metal and electrical parts; reports note that a large share of children in the informal sector work in those yards.
  • Strong fitDhaka · The country's biggest source and market for e-waste: corporate, bank and mobile operator auctions are here, and most material comes up through Old Dhaka's scrap markets.
  • Strong fitGazipur · An industrial belt where factory machinery, motors and cable come up for auction regularly, and shed rent is lower than in Dhaka.
  • Strong fitNarayanganj · A dense cluster of smelters and re-rolling mills, so buyers for sorted copper and iron are close at hand, with a short supply chain to Dhaka.
  • PossibleBogura · The metal and parts trading centre of the north, where small foundries and parts workshops provide local buyers.
  • PossibleCumilla · On the Dhaka-Chattogram highway, so material can be collected from both ends, with cheaper land and sheds.
  • PossibleKhulna · The collection centre for the south-west, though with few metal buyers the sorted material has to go to Dhaka or Narayanganj.
  • PossibleNarsingdi · Small industry and cable-related workshops close to Dhaka, with space costing far less than in the capital.
  • PossibleRajshahi · Old computers come out of divisional offices and institutions, but the volume is small enough that transport is hard to cover.
  • PossibleSylhet · Heavier use of electrical goods in migrant families means more e-waste, though there is no local processing capacity.

Risks and cautions

  • HighCompliance: Doing this without registration is a criminal offence. A violation of the Hazardous Waste (E-waste) Management Rules 2021 carries, under section 15(1) of the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act 1995, up to two years' imprisonment or a fine of up to Tk 200,000 or both, and on a repeat offence two to ten years or Tk 200,000 to Tk 1,000,000 or both. Dhaka Tribune reports that about half of the firms doing this work operate without DoE registration, so the exposure is real rather than theoretical.
  • HighOther: Workers' health. Indoor dust and air in Dhaka's informal e-waste shops carry heavy metal levels far above other sites, dominated by lead and copper, with nickel, manganese and chromium also present. Workers spend an average of about seven and a half hours a working day in that air, and it enters through the hands and skin as well as the lungs. Children and women make up much of the informal workforce. The damage is slow, showing up years later, and by then it cannot be undone.
  • HighDependency: Getting the material is the hardest part. Ninety-seven percent of the country's e-waste goes through informal hands and only three percent reaches a formal facility; for obsolete mobile phones formal recyclers receive less than 20 percent. So a plant that has paid for registration, clearance and safety equipment must bid every day against collectors who carry none of those costs and can therefore pay more.
  • HighWorking capital: Material has to be bought in cash and up front. Scrap dealers and collectors do not give credit, and an auction has to be paid on the spot. In the other direction, metal sold to smelters and wholesalers is paid for after the consignment is received, often weeks later. In between the godown is full and the cash is not.
  • MediumDemand: The price is not in your hands. Copper, aluminium and plastic move with international markets, and when they fall below what the stock was bought at the whole godown is a loss. The market is large, about Tk 6,000 crore of trade a year and around Tk 500 crore a month, but nearly all of it is in informal hands, so a registered plant has few assured buyers.

Sources

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Stories about this business

Mixed experienceAn e-waste trader in Dhaka, in a Business Standard report

Fourteen licences, and 10 lakh taka a year just to renew them

An e-waste business started in 2001, when dead phones and computers sold at 20-30 taka a kg, now needs 14 licences and about 10 lakh taka a year to renew them.

Reasons
Compliance, Other

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