Recycling entrepreneur wins recognition as one of Asia’s greatest brands and leaders
Kalhari Enterprises and Indhra Kaushal Rajapaksa were recognised among Asia’s greatest brands and leaders at the Pride of Asia Series Awards and Business Summit, and Asia’s Greatest Brands and Leaders 2018 held at Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore, recently.
The award follows closely on the heels of the Gold award for Recycled Products won by the Kalhari Group at the National Chamber of Exporters (NCE) Awards 2018.
The company which has consistently won NCE awards for more than ten years is today a leader in the field of exporting recycled plastics and rubber waste as raw materials to various countries around the world.
Kaushal Rajapaksa was twice the recipient of the Asia-pacific Entrepreneurship Award. In 2014, Rajapaksa also received the prestigious Merit award from the Plastic and Rubber Institute of Sri Lanka for the significant contribution made by him towards the development and growth of the country’s polymer industry.
The Kalhari Group exports recycled tyre-waste, rubber-waste, post-consumer PET bottles and steel-dust. It has its head office in the village of Heiyantuduwa and factories in the towns of Sapugaskanda, Mahara and Minuwangoda. The company has exported significant quantities of recycled material to five countries including Thailand and Pakistan and has made a major impact towards waste management and controlling environmental pollution in Sri Lanka.
“One of our main export products is tyre waste, a large amount of which is produced in the tyre rebuilding industry. In Japan, Australia and New Zealand, they use this tyre dust to make artificial ‘green’ playing fields as well as rubber floor tiles,” Rajapaksa explained. “Pakistan produces oil from tyres. They also make shoe soles. Thailand produces solid tyres and conveyor belts.”
The Chairman of the Kalhari Group says that Sri Lanka earns valuable foreign exchange from the recycled waste material exported by the company.
“Recycling should be the responsibility of the producer and we need to create more awareness on the disposal of plastic and rubber products by implementing extended producer responsibility (EPR) which will enable Sri Lanka to address the waste disposal and management problem to a great extent. We are planning to build up partnerships in the provinces to expand the recycling industry and also educate the public on the responsible disposal of waste. We are very grateful to the government authorities for the assistance given so far, and look forward to working with them even more closely in the future.”
Even as it keeps its focus on waste management and recycling, the company is also diversifying its portfolio.
“Through one of the companies in the Kalhari Group, Tribio International (Pvt.) Ltd, we have ventured into a collaboration with a Chinese investor to process locally grown Areca nuts for export. We are also venturing into Vanilla cultivation and processing in Sri Lanka,” said Rajapaksa.
“Kalhari is today working on a webbased portal for the general public to exchange used goods as well as to promote our CSR activities by linking those who have such goods with those who need them. The disposer will make a post on the site to connect with a user who will find value in the waste. It will add a new web-based-dimension for the collection and disposal of waste, and we are looking for partners to make this a success,” Kaushal Rajapaksa said.