An Italian company has proposed being authorised to manage Savar Tannery Industrial Estate's (STIE) solid waste so that it could recycle it into biogas and fertilisers.

Ilsa SPA in its website says it produces and markets biostimulants and products with a specific action, organic and organo-mineral fertilizers, solids and liquids.

The proposal alongside a draft memorandum of understanding for conducting a feasibility study is now with the Ministry of Industries, forwarded by the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC).

Italy will work to transfer green technology in a joint venture between Bangladesh and Italy and increase Italian investment in Bangladesh, said Italian Ambassador to Bangladesh Enrico Nunziata paying a courtesy call on the BSCIC chairman at his office yesterday.

Some 50 tonnes to 60 tonnes of solid waste, such as fleshings, trimmings, and shavings, are currently being generated every day by 132 out of the 155 tanneries in operation at the STIE.

During the peak four months of production centring the sacrifice of animals during Eid-ul-Azha, the amount goes up to 150 tonnes a day, according to the BSCIC.

In absence of dumping yards, all of the waste is being stored in a nearby vacant space under the open sky on a temporary basis, polluting the locality of Hemayetpur in Savar.

The government had shifted the tanneries from the city's Hazaribagh to Savar in 2017 aiming to make the leather sector more environment-friendly.

But the STIE still lacks proper solid waste management alongside a fully functional effluent treatment plant.

"We are struggling with solid waste. It will not be possible to manage. So we have to take help of foreign technology," said Md Mostaque Hassan, chairman of the BSCIC.

"The BSCIC will sign the MoU as soon as the ministry gives the approval. We hope to implement this initiative within a year," he said.

"We are optimistic. We can use them. However, the matter is still at the proposal stage. Verification is underway," said Kazi Sakhawat Hossain, additional secretary (BSCIC, SME & BITAC) to the ministry.

"We will take the whole solid waste to our factory…there are plans to build this plant at Kaliakair in Gazipur," said Abdus Salam Xitu, general manager of Resources Regeneration BD, which is working as a partner of the Italian company.

The biogas and fertiliser will be exported while the factory will have a cutting edge laboratory connecting industry and academia, he said.