Improving scrap collectors’ effectiveness and structuring their operations
To address the challenges of Morocco’s scrap metal recycling industry, BMC and ENSAM implemented a joint initiative in July 2022. Two cooperatives were established in the Meknès and Youssoufia areas to improve scrap collectors’ effectiveness and better structure their operations.
The project represented a strategic collaboration between multiple stakeholders, each with complementary roles. Invest for Jobs provided funding and project oversight to ensure sustainable employment creation. BMC contributed technical expertise in metal quality requirements and processing standards, motivated by the opportunity to develop a more reliable supply chain for their manufacturing operations. ENSAM's engineers designed specialised training materials focused on safe handling and efficient metal recovery techniques, using their expertise in materials engineering expertise to improve the collectors' technical capabilities.
To facilitate scrap metal collection, the cooperatives were equipped with shared resources like metal cutting tools. The aim was to guarantee the supply of raw materials to recycling businesses, while ensuring the protection of scrap collectors. With support from Invest for Jobs, the cooperatives received metal balers to reduce the amount of storage space needed for scrap, as well as specialised magnets to facilitate the sorting process. Furthermore, the use of radiation detectors improved the identification of radioactive material and its subsequent disposal in compliance with domestic and international regulations. The equipment made it possible to treat scrap materials more efficiently and replace dangerous handling operations carried out by collectors with semi-automated processes. The cooperatives provided logistics support through the use of vans that facilitated the recovery of scrap metal as well as the distribution of processed scrap metal to customers.
With the help of ENSAM lecturers, the cooperatives provided training on health, safety and hygiene. These programmes were structured as intensive five-week courses, combining theoretical instruction from ENSAM engineering faculty with hands-on demonstrations of proper material handling techniques.. This knowledge transfer was critical for both improving occupational safety and enhancing the quality of recovered materials to meet BMC's production standards.
