Recycling entrepreneur recognised with Asia Pacific Award

Sri Lankan industrialist Indhra Kaushal Rajapaksa who runs a successful recycling business – Kalhari Enterprises – in Heiyantuduwa was recently awarded ‘The Most Promising Entrepreneurship Award’ by Enterprise Asia, a Non-Governmental Organisation promoting the development of entrepreneurship across the Asia-Pacific region.

The awards in Sri Lanka were organised by the Sri Lanka-Malaysia Business Council of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

‘The Most Promising Entrepreneurship Award’ is awarded to recognise individuals in the Asia Pacific region who have shown very promising efforts, perseverance and growth in their business.

Founder of the company Indhra Kaushal Rajapaksa, schooled at Ananda College, Colombo, studied Polymer Science Technology at the Katubedda Campus of the Moratuwa University, and has an MBA in Business Management.

A Fellow of the Plastic and Rubber Institute [PRI] of Sri Lanka and its current Vice President, he has experience working in all the major footwear exporting companies in the Free Trade Zone. Before embarking on his own, he was employed in one of the world’s largest manufacturers of solid and pneumatic tyres for the construction and agriculture industries in Sri Lanka (Loadstar Private Limited).

Kalhari Group has around 80 employees, nearly 80% of whom are from the village of Heiyantuduwa, from where the company operates. It has since expanded to five companies engaged in footwear upper stitching, tyre waste recycling, trading and has factories in Heiyantuduwa, Mahara and Minuwangoda. In addition, it provides the livelihood for around 40 collectors who supply the factory with waste for recycling.

“This award is recognition of the efforts of the entire staff of the Kalhari Group who have rallied round behind me in developing a successful business,” Rajapaksa said, after receiving the award.

“Today, Sri Lanka needs sustainable development more than ever before. We have followed the more industrialised countries in their model of development and the increased consumption is already straining our environment with waste products that could prove harmful if not recycled safely. I am happy that our efforts at waste management and recycling have been successful,” he added.

Rajapaksa set up Kalhari Enterprises in 2003 recycling used PET bottles. Today it is a group of five companies exporting significant quantities of recycled waste every month to several countries including China, India, Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Among the recycled products exported by Kalhari Enterprises are waste products from the tyre industry, the rubber latex industry, the garment industry, and the steel industry. Other export products include a variety of plastics including used PET bottles and electronic waste.

The APEA Award is the latest for both Kaushal Rajapaksa and the Kalhari Group. They have consistently won export awards since the inception of the NCE Export Awards in Sri Lanka in 2007.

“We have signed agreements with several corporate entities in Sri Lanka to be their service provider for waste management and it is an on-going process. We are aggressively pursuing MOUs with corporate entities for the management of their e-waste so that these could be recycled in Sri Lanka itself. With the proliferation of computers, mobile phones and other electronic equipment, Sri Lanka will soon face the challenge of how to deal with e-waste safely.”

Kalhari’s Group CEO also outlined the direction the company would take in the immediate future. “Soon we expect to be able to expand our activities both by the volume of waste materials managed and by geographic coverage,” Rajapaksa explained.

“Right now most of our employees are in the village of Heiyantuduwa where we have our operations. But with the expansion, we expect to be able to provide more job opportunities for people from other areas as well; particularly, the north and the east. Our aim is to make people more aware of the need to protect and sustain the environment and provide them with a livelihood as they do so.”