Egypt’s Innovative Solutions: Turning Plastic Waste into Recycling Opportunities

For decades, plastic has been an industrial miracle solution, owing to its durability, light weight, and affordability. Around 36 percent of produced plastics worldwide are used in packaging, including single-use plastic, which has an exceptionally low product lifespan.

According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), 400 million tons of plastic waste are generated every year, 85 percent of which end up in landfills or as unregulated waste. With global industry stakeholders searching for ways to minimize ecological damage, several Egyptian companies have approached the plastic packaging waste challenge as a chance to explore sustainable industry practices and market opportunities.

In 2018, the European Union (EU) launched the first Europe-wide strategy of its kind, with the aim of ensuring that all plastic packaging on the EU market is recyclable by 2030. The strategy encourages the adoption of plastics that are “reusable or recyclable in an economically viable manner”.

In attempt to promote alternatives to single-use plastics, the Egyptian government introduced the National Waste Management Law No. 202 of the year 2020 (the “WM Law”) stating provisions that limit the manufacture of single-use plastic.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Environment has launched a plan to reduce the annual consumption of single-use plastic nationwide to 50 bags per capita by 2030.

Founded in 2011, BariQ is considered the largest producer of recycled plastic in the Middle East, and Africa (MEA) region. With its cutting-edge green technology, BariQ focuses on re-processing post-consumer plastic PET bottles. Over the past 10 years, the company has recycled 15 billion plastic bottles into non-food grade pellets which have saved 260 thousand tons of carbon dioxide.

The Egyptian company is the first in the region to export 100 percent of its recycled products to global packaging companies in Europe and North America. BariQ’s pellets are approved by international regulators, including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Health Canada.

A lead manufacturer and supplier of industrial packaging materials in Egypt is Clipsico Pack. Over the past 7 years, Clipsico has been working on integrating more sustainable practices.

“At first, we struggled to produce a recycled product that offers similar performance to conventional plastic,” explains Ramy Shohoud, company CEO. Thanks to its R&D Department, Clipsico now produces 100 percent of its strapping belts from used water bottles and 70 percent of its stretch films from post-industrial recycled materials.

A long-term collaborator to Exxon-Mobil and other European partners, Clipsico Pack has also received the Spanish AENOR licensing, guaranteeing its compliance to EU regulations. The company exports 60 to 70 containers on a monthly basis, 20 percent of which are recycled packaging materials imported by traders in Germany, Spain, and Italy.

VeryNile has dedicated its efforts towards collecting, recycling, and upcycling plastic wastes dumped in river waters. A social enterprise based on Qursaya island by Giza, VeryNile works with 60 local fishermen to collect plastic waste from the river, covering a 15-kilometer distance on the Nile banks.

According to Amir Nabile, Operation Manager at VeryNile, 20 tons of plastic wastes are collected per month. “We buy the plastic waste at a higher price than what the market offers to encourage fishermen to frequently clean the river,” Nabile notes.

There is an endless variety to products made or upcycled from plastic waste, as explains Salma Ellakany, VeryNile Shop Founder and Community Development Head. Plastic bottles are compressed and sold to companies that recycle them to produce fibre mattresses, jerseys, and sneakers. Bottle caps are shredded, heated, and restructured to fabricate tables and seats, and are used as a replacement for wood for fishermen boats’ interiors. Meanwhile, plastic bags are upcycled to produce sheets that are shaped into handbags, wallets, baskets, amongst 40 other products.

At the COP27, hosted by Egypt in Sharm El-Sheikh in November 2022, several global stakeholders discussed pathways to reducing carbon emissions and limiting rising global temperatures. Amongst the stakeholders were Tetra Pak and Uniboard who introduced the first recycled beverage cartons (UBC) and served the product as a free sample to conference participants. The project was initiated with a total joint value of EUR 2.5 million with the goal of recycling 8,000 tons of UBC annually.

In a media interview, Wael Khoury, Managing Director of Tetra Pak Egypt, unveiled the “Better with Carton” campaign to raise awareness amongst stakeholders about encouraging the switch towards carton packaging, due to their smaller carbon footprint.

Meanwhile, at Nile University, Dr. Irene Fahim, Associate Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering, has been leading a research team to create prototypes of biodegradable plastic using organic waste, including sugarcane bagasse and chitosan from sea shells which take 60 to 80 days to decompose in soil. Nevertheless, bioplastic is faced with the challenges of cost and feasibility for large-scale technical adaptation for production. “Such will be solved in the future,” assures Dr. Fahim.