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WREC case study: The Role of Scrap Dealers in Cox’s Bazar to support humanitarian response and reduce environmental impact

Attachments

This case study summarizes the steps undertaken by humanitarian organizations to engage scrap dealers on the collection of recyclable materials in Bangladesh, contributing to reduce the negative environmental impact of the humanitarian response. The document outlines useful steps for any organization’s Supply Chain and Programme officers planning to improve the management of recycling materials generated along their humanitarian supply chain.

Target audience

This case studyis tailored for anyorganization’s Supply Chain and Programmeofficers planning toimprove the management of recycling materials generated along their humanitarian supply chain.

The context

Since 2017, Teknaf and UkhiaUpazilas, two of the southern sub-districts of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, which combined weight less than 250.000 people, are hosting one of the largest emergency crises in the world with almost 1 million refugees from the neighboring country Myanmar. In the context of Cox's Bazar, where waste collection systems and infrastructures are lacking in the premises of refugee camps, the management of waste has emerged as a significant challenge. Additionally, another obstacle arises from the considerable distance between the humanitarian operations and the recycling industry, mainly located in the cities of Chittagong and Dhaka (up to 200 Km and 440 Km distance respectively). In this scenario, an existing market of Informal Recycling Sector (IRS), comprising individuals and small and medium enterprises (SME), are involved in the collection of valuable waste.

These stakeholders supply the collected materials to recycling industries located in Chittagong and Dhaka. The IRS plays a crucial role in the recycling ecosystem, contributing to waste landfilling reduction and resource recovery. To address the challenge of waste management and minimize the environmental impact of the humanitarian response, it is crucial to engage these scrap dealers and leverage their expertiseand networks. By establishing partnerships and collaborations, humanitarian organizations can tap into the existing infrastructure and knowledge of the IRS to enhance waste collection efforts within the refugee camps and avoid building parallel mechanisms. The issue was therefore to understand how to engage scrapdealers to support humanitarian actors withcollecting recyclable materials and reducing the negative environmental impact of the humanitarian response.