A livelihood from waste materials

Md Jahid from Sutiakathi village in the district's Nesarabad upazila felt like he had spent almost a life time trying to earn a stable livelihood.

That is until he discovered discarded polythene and saw a lifeline in it seven years ago. For Jahid found a way to coil discarded polythene to produce industrial-strength rope that he could sell.

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“I used to make rope with linen as my family was involved in linen business. But I could not make enough profit from it and often faced losses also,” Jahid said.

“When the thought crossed my mind, I found a way to coil the polythene strips into. This rope is now used in packaging,” he added.

The 36-year-old spends Tk 32 to produce one kilogram of rope and sells it Tk 40 to wholesale buyers at Inderhaat in the upazila.

“This rope is very strong and is in a great demand at different areas of Rajshahi as it is used in places like mango orchards for tying bunch of mangoes,” he says.

Jahid has even made an electronic machine which has been set up next to his home from where he runs his business. This machine twists two strips of polythene into a single coil of rope and generates no waste. Jahid produces around a tonne of rope a week and sells four to five tonnes at a time.

He also recycles rejected plastic zippers from garment factories.

“I buy rejected zipper strips from different garment factories in Dhaka and bring them to my village. The plastic teeth of zippers are separated from the ribbon or tape that holds them,” he says.

He spends Tk 35 to bring each kg of rejected zippers at Nesarabad. After separating the plastic from the cloth, he sells the plastic teeth at Tk 8 per kg and the cloth ribbon or tapes at Tk 90 per kg at the local wholesale market.

“The plastic teeth are in great demand at brick kilns in Dhaka as fuel,” he said.

When Jahid started his venture, his wife Mahmuda Begum used to help him. Now he has employed four people at his tiny factory which runs for five months a year. He pays Tk 300 a day to each worker.

“My wife works with me till 10:00pm everyday or sometimes as late as 11:00pm,” says Jahid.

The couple is blessed with three sons and two daughters.

Locals are happy with his success. 

According to Jahid, he faces two challenges in running the business -- power cuts and shortage of raw materials.