Rajesh Rai | Phuentsholing

With the number of poultry farms increasing in Samtse, the demand for egg trays was high.

Hasta Man Rai, 32, himself a poultry farmer, saw an opportunity. So he collected waste to produce egg trays.

“My mission is to recycle 65,000kg of waste and convert them into egg trays,” he said.

Hasta Man Rai is from Karzhang village of Denchukha in Dorokha, Samtse.

He is the proprietor of HS Company for Egg Trays, located at Chelumchen in Dorokha.




The project is supported by CSI Bank and NCGS and is funded by YERE (Youth Employment through Rural Enterprises).

“I saw the egg tray shortage. We were importing from India and it included second-hand trays. But it was expensive.”

Hasta Man Rai started working on the documentation for the project during the country’s first lockdown in 2020.

During the second lockdown, in 2021, he started processing.

“Our aim was to manufacture egg trays while reducing wastes,” he said.

Hasta Man Rai, the man behind the tray company

HS Company for Egg Trays recycles almost 90 percent of the collected waste. Raw such as cloth pieces, plastics and papers of any type, including cardboard can be used.

Hasta Man Rai said his business is based on the Market Accessibility Product.

“We looked into the market. We saw the demand and supply gap. Then, we assembled the product,” he said. “However, our target is the community. We are for poultry farmers in rural places. We are for rural progress.”

Dorokha, he said, has some advantages. The drungkhag is close to Samtse, Haa, Paro and Phuentsholing. The egg trays go as far as Chukha.

“Now that Samtse-Haa road is there, the business is growing,” Hasta Man Rai said. “The market is really good.”

The company’s regular production is over 3,000 pieces of egg trays per day.




Waste comes from schools and Samtse town area.

“Waste is money anywhere,” Hasta Man Rai said.

Dorokha Drungpa Karma Jurmi said there are 65 poultry farms in Dorokha.

“Now we don’t have egg tray supply issues,” he said, adding all the raw materials come from the waste.

“I have visited the egg tray plant and learned they are receiving overwhelming demand and having a tough time meeting the demand from farms as far as Paro and Sipsu.”




Dorokha Drungkhag is growing in terms of entrepreneurship and economy.

Today, it has secured seven different projects through YERE. The drungkhag played a vital role in supplying meat, eggs, dairy products, and vegetables during the pandemic.