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Having grown up in a family of rag-and-bone traders, it’s not surprising that Raymond Ng, Executive Chairman of SGX-listed Enviro-Hub Holdings Ltd, has made recycling and waste management his life’s work. During his teens, Ng used to accompany his father, a “karung guni” or junk dealer who drove around neighbourhoods in a truck to collect discarded or used items destined for dumpsites and recycling plants. “That was my first introduction to the concept of recycling,” he recalled. After leaving school, Ng joined the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), where he discovered his talent as an auto mechanic. But the recycling business was never far from his mind. Years later, when Ng’s brothers invited him to join the family’s “karung guni” business, he agreed, on one condition - that they switch to recycling electronic waste. “That was how I ventured into the e-waste management industry,” he added. |
Raymond Ng, Executive Chairman of SGX-listed Enviro-Hub Holdings
Towards the end of 2004, Ng launched a mandatory general offer for listed piling and construction firm Leong Hin Holdings, after injecting two e-waste recycling businesses - HLS Electronics and Cimelia Resource Recovery - into the company.
In 2005, the Group was renamed Enviro-Hub Holdings to reflect its new focus as an integrated environmental services hub, providing environmental management solutions and services to the global Electronics, Electrical and Equipment (EEE) industries.
“I strongly believe that if you reduce wastage, it will mean better health for yourself and everyone else. Reducing, reusing and recycling is still the best way forward - it makes us more environmentally conscious and responsible,” noted Ng, who has more than three decades of experience in the recycling industry, and nearly two decades of exposure to the real estate sector.
“Less waste, more health means it’s more sustainable for the earth and the environment. And if you make a profit out of it as well, so much the better!”
Mainboard-listed Enviro-Hub has a diverse portfolio that includes trading, recycling and refining of electronics waste (e-waste/metals), piling contracts, construction, rental and servicing of machinery, property investments and management, as well as plastics to fuel refining.
E-waste is trash generated from surplus, broken, and obsolete electronic devices. Recycling e-waste facilitates the recovery of valuable metals and other materials from electronics devices, thus saving energy, reducing pollution, and conserving landfill space.
Enviro-Hub possesses a seamless value creation chain in its environmental management solutions and services. Its businesses focus on sustainable living, and include the provision of total WEEE (waste electronics, electrical and equipment) solutions, recovery and refining of platinum group metals, as well as recycling of ferrous and nonferrous metals. These are part of the Group’s efforts to create a sustainable future and reinforce its brand around the globe.
Booming Glove Demand
In the meantime, COVID-19 has also reinforced the impetus for recycling amongst corporations. “There’s even more consciousness now of the need to recycle, as well as issues concerning sustainability of the environment and the earth’s resources,” Ng pointed out.
As Enviro-Hub is categorised as an essential business, it was allowed to continue operating during the pandemic. But lockdown measures made it difficult for the Group to conduct its trading activities.
“Instead of selling the materials by way of trading, we focused on adding value through sorting, dismantling and crushing to increase the purity of the metals. We also boosted our waste metal refining and recovery capacities during this period,” he added.
Earlier this year, Enviro-Hub completed the acquisition of a 25% stake in Malaysian glove manufacturer Pastel Glove for US$5 million, marking the Group’s foray into the glove manufacturing and healthcare consumables sectors, which offer robust, multi-year growth prospects.
“We’re constantly on the lookout for new opportunities that will provide strong, recurring income streams, and create better value for our shareholders,” Ng said, adding that Enviro-Hub had stumbled across this opportunity in Pastel Glove, which boasts a strong order pipeline and huge demand potential.
“We’re now living in the new normal, where people are cautious and paying more attention to personal hygiene,” he noted. “Healthcare institutions are also boosting their use of PPE. There’s a lot of room for growth, even with vaccinations being rolled out, and we intend to explore further synergies from this business segment.”
As part of the Group’s Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) efforts, and being cognisant of the potential environmental hazards associated with the improper disposal of e-waste, Enviro-Hub has focused on developing its waste disposal facilities to recycle e-waste properly.
Apart from complying with relevant environmental laws and regulations such as the Environmental Protection and Management Act and Regulations, the Hazardous Waste Act, the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea Act, and the Fire Safety Act, the Group’s e-waste recycling units - Cimelia and HLS - will support the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law, due to take effect this year.
This regulation ensures that producers of electrical and electronic equipment in Singapore have their products collected, recycled or disposed of responsibly when they reach the end of their lifespan.
Rising E-Waste Stream
In the meantime, the outlook for the e-waste management industry remains bright. Data from the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor 2020 report showed that a record 53.6 million metric tonnes of electronic waste was generated worldwide in 2019, up 21% in just five years.
The report also predicts global e-waste - discarded products with a battery or plug - will reach 74 metric tonnes by 2030, almost doubling in 16 years. This makes e-waste the world’s fastest-growing domestic waste stream, fuelled mainly by higher consumption rates of electric and electronic equipment, shorter life cycles, and fewer repair options.
Only 17.4% of 2019’s e-waste was collected and recycled, according to the report. Asia generated the greatest volume of e-waste in 2019 with 24.9 metric tonnes, followed by the Americas at 13.1 metric tonnes, and Europe at 12 metric tonnes.
According to data from Allied Market Research, the e-waste management market was valued at US$42.0 billion in 2019, and is projected to reach US$102.6 billion by 2027, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.9% from 2020 to 2027.
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Despite the demands of the Group’s day-to-day operations, Ng makes it a point to take time to reset and refocus. “If there’s a problem that I can’t solve, I won’t stay up thinking about it - I would rather get a good night’s rest and come up with a solution the next day.” And when he’s not focused on work, the 57-year-old can be found pottering amongst his collectors’ items, which range from antiques, artefacts and building materials to vintage Pu-Er tea, Chinese teapots and snuff bottles. “I collect only the things that I enjoy and love - it’s not about their intrinsic value,” he said. “Having been a scrap collector since young, I’ve always been very curious about how things are made, how they can be taken apart, what materials they are made of, and how they can be re-assembled into useful items again.” For this father of two sons and two daughters, aged 21 to 27 years old, family time is a priority. To his children, he always highlights the values of trust and integrity. “It doesn’t matter if you have no money or little education. Instead, what is more significant is whether you are honest and can inspire trust in others - these are the qualities that no one can take away from you, and will lay the foundation for your success in life.” |
Enviro-Hub Holdings Ltd
Mainboard-listed Enviro-Hub has a diverse portfolio that includes trading, recycling and refining of e-waste/metals, piling contracts, construction, rental and servicing of machinery, property investments and management, as well as plastics to fuel refining. In 2021, Enviro-Hub completed the acquisition of a 25% stake in Malaysian glove manufacturer Pastel Glove for US$5 million. This marks the Group’s foray into the glove manufacturing and healthcare consumables sectors, which offer robust long-term prospects.
The company website is: www.enviro-hub.com
Click here for the company's StockFacts page.
For the year ended 31 December 2020 financial results, click here.
Article was first published on the SGX's kopi-C: the Company brew page.
Text: Jennifer Tan-Stanisic
Photo: Company file
kopi-C is a regular column on the SGX Research website that features C-level executives of leading companies listed on Singapore Exchange. These interviews are profiles of senior management aimed at helping investors better understand the individuals who run these corporations.
For previous editions of kopi-C: the Company brew, please click here.
