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SANGSAD BHABAN, June 7, 2026 (BSS) – Industries Minister Khandakar Abdul Muktadir today told parliament that the government planned to promote expanded reuse of industrial byproducts through their conversion into commercially viable products as part efforts to promote sustainable industrialization.

“Various state-owned industries have already been utilising them and exploring new opportunities to add values to such byproducts using modern technologies and new investments,” he said responding to a starred question from Khelafat Majlis lawmaker Mohammad Abul Hasan (Sylhet-5).

He said operational sugar mills under Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation (BSFIC) continued to supply for a long time their “molasses” byproduct to state-owned Carew Distillery to manufacture alcohol and domestic and foreign liquor alongside other value-added products.

The Carew Sugar Mill, he said, also produces bio-fertilizer from press mud, another such byproduct.

Muktadir informed the House that separate feasibility studies were underway to upgrade Chuadanga’s Carew Distillery and North Bengal Sugar Mills Limited in Natore into modern, diversified, environmentally friendly and economically sustainable agro-industrial enterprises.

He said the government now awaited the study findings to initiate projects for these two state-owned commercial entities with plans to produce various reusable products from industrial byproducts.

The minister said initiatives were taken as well at Savar Tannery Industrial Estate under the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) to encourage private entrepreneurs to manufacture value-added products from tannery wastes.

He said a Chinese factory named “ZW Animal Protein” went on operation producing protein powder from chrome shaving dust and gelatin from raw leather cuttings. 

“Plans are also in place to produce tallow (a rendered form of animal fat) from tannery fleshing waste,” Muktadir said.

He said tiles were produced on experimental basis from sludge generated by Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) at the tannery estate, which were installed as well within the treatment plant premises.

The minister said Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (BCIC)-run plants generally reuse their byproducts as raw materials in the production processes of the respective plants.

“The government is committed to promote resource efficiency, waste minimization and circular industrial practices through effective utilization of industrial byproducts,” he said.