HULLADEK RECYCLING: NAVIGATING THE NATION-WIDE LOCKDOWN
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Hulladek Recycling Private Limited is Eastern India’s initiative to do their bit to make this world a greener place through establishing proper, organized e-waste management systems across the country. Established in 2014, Hulladek Recycling has successfully channeled 1 million kgs of electronic and electrical waste so far. Embedded in the evergreen mantra of Reduce | Reuse | Recycle, Hulladek strives to manage the electronic and electrical waste of the country. Electronic and electrical waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world. According to the recent UN report, India is the third-largest producer of e-waste. Approximately 95% of this e-waste is treated by the informal sector of the country. The most common practice of chemical leaching and acid bath to extract precious metals, not only results in air, water, and soil pollution but also leads to wastage of resources. The team at Hulladek envisions a greener world, where every member of the consumption chain, be it a producer, the middle man, or the consumer, are conscientious and motivated enough to
extract maximum value from the resources they use, before choosing effective, efficient and eco-friendly recycling and disposal practices to discard their used items. They strive to establish error-free, stakeholder-friendly networks, to ensure sustainable collection and channelization of e-waste disposal.
Nandan Mall, Founder & CEO of Hulladek Recycling, is a third-generation entrepreneur. At a very young age, he realized the need for a proper channel for waste management. Therefore, he started his dream project of establishing an e-waste management company to ensure proper collection and channelization of electronic waste to authorized recyclers.
Nandan worked at Indumetal Recycling in Bilbao, Spain for about two years, where he trained in e-waste management and recycling processes. He studied processes for the extraction of precious metals and salting techniques. Nandan returned to India in 2014 and Hulladek Recycling was conceptualized based on the expertise and knowledge gleaned from his time abroad. Nandan completed his schooling from St. James, Kolkata and completed his B. Com (Hons) from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. He has worked with companies such as Red Bull and NIIT as a Business Development Manager. Working with and leading groups of people, he sincerely believes, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” ~ Andrew Carnegie, business magnate and philanthropist.
IMPACTS OF THE LOCKDOWN
According to Nandan, the company’s biggest dilemma once the country-wide lockdown was announced was logistics. Logistics is an important part of the business module as Hulladek heavily depends on the collection and channelization of electronic waste from producers to recyclers. Hence, a complete lockdown meant that this movement of electronic and electrical waste would be put on hold until further notice. Moreover, they had a number of pan-India pick-ups for a few corporates lined up for the month of March which would have helped them reach their yearly targets. Business operations were brought to a sudden halt once the lockdown was announced. As a result,
- Orders were put on hold for an indefinite period of time.
- Payments that were to be received were delayed.
- Unavailability of vehicles for pick-ups.
- Unavailability of laborers for pick-ups.
- Delay in the certification from their end
They had to suspend their operations in most of the cities during the lockdown. However, to stay connected with their target audience, they focused their efforts on digital platforms such as social media marketing, email marketing and webinars. The basic idea was to stay in touch with existing and potential customers. They engaged the audience through interactive creatives on their social media handles such as Instagram and Facebook and through regular newsletters to their client base. They also conducted several webinars for students and professionals to create awareness about e-waste and the importance of recycling.
KEEPING UP THE PACE
Once the lockdown was partially lifted, Hulladek introduced a No-Contact Pick-Up Service. They provide door-to-door pick-up services from households and business houses. Owing to the pandemic, many of the clients and customers were not comfortable with Hulladek executives coming and collecting their e-waste. Therefore, a No-Contact Pick-Up Service was designed to ensure that there is minimum or no contact between the logistics crew and the clients while conducting the pick-up. The crew members were given all the necessary safety equipment such as masks, gloves, and helmets.
They also launched another service in association with AdmyBin. They started providing sanitization services for residential complexes, factories, warehouses, and offices. The sanitization process uses a hard surface cleaner and disinfectant known as Alstasan II 256. This chemical is a blend of double chain Quaternary Ammonium Compounds, surfactants, and stabilizers which on the application completely eradicates bacteria, viruses, sporicidal pathogens, and manifests sustained anti-viral action over applied surface areas of residential, commercial, industrial and public surroundings. The chemical is completely safe, odorless, and has no side effects. The chemical is sprayed in all tangible human touchpoints to eliminate any contamination present. The time and cost required for the entire process mainly depend on the area that needs to be covered. Within 1 hour of the completion of the process, people can access the area without any problems. Post the process, the organization or residential complex is also provided a certificate from our end.
With the country under lockdown, the safety of our people becomes our top priority. We realized that ‘Work from Home’ is the new norm that companies all over the world were resorting to so we pooled in our efforts to keep our employees engaged during these tough times. Maintaining social distancing was a must and therefore we ensured that our employees stay at home irrespective of their job responsibilities.
KEEPING UP WITH THE TEAM
During these unforeseen circumstances, Hulladek wanted to ensure that the employees feel secure about their position in the company. Therefore, they did not have any pay-cuts for the employees regardless of whether they could perform from home or not. Since the majority of their work depends on the channelization of e-waste from consumers to recyclers, the logistics crew play a significant role in the company. During the lockdown, the activities of the logistics executives were indefinitely suspended. However, it was imperative for them to retain the team and they considered this as a long-term investment.
At Hulladek, safety is their topmost priority. As operations commenced, they decided to take all necessary precautions for the safety of their employees and customers. They installed the following systematic processes:
- Temperature checks and sanitizers at the entrance.
- Arrangement of transport facilities for the employees.
- Employees were provided with N95 masks.
- Changes in the seating arrangement to maintain a distance of at least 6 ft.
- Sanitization of the entire workspace before the commencement of operations.
- Regular cleaning of all contact surfaces.
They also conducted several inter-departmental activities and surveys to keep the team members engaged during the lockdown. They took this time to understand the pulse of the workforce. Moreover, they celebrated the birthdays of Hulladek employees online at Zoom.
To recycle your e-waste with Hulladek or to get in touch with them, you can call them on their toll-free number 1800-212-7880
