2013 - Annual Report For SWM in Egypt - EN

MSEA
ANNUAL REPORT FOR

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT
IN EGYPT, 2013
Volume 2: The Report
November, 2013
This publication has been prepared by independent experts.
The data, findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in
this Report do not necessarily reflect the views of the National
Solid Waste Management Programme or the Ministry of State
for Environmental Affairs. The material in this publication
may be reproduced, in whole or in part, for non-commercial
purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given.
Prepared by
New center for Integrated studies of Land & Environment
(NILE)
5, El-Ahram Street, Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt
Dr. Tarek Zaki
Eng. Abdel Ghafour Kafafi
Eng. Mounir Boushra Mina
Dr. Abd El-Halim Mohamed Abd El-Halim
Edited by:
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Saber (NRC)
E-mail: [email protected]
Published by:
Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs
National Solid Waste Management Programme (NSWMP)
MSEA
With Support of:
Implemented by:
National Solid Waste Management Programme (NSWMP)

Minstry of State for Environmental Affairs
Cairo House Building, Fustat
Misr-El Qadima - Cairo - Egypt
Designed and Printed by:

i-CATCHY Advertising Agency
ANNUAL REPORT FOR
SOLID WASTE
MANAGEMENT
IN EGYPT, 2013
Volume 2:
The Report
Contents
1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 6
2. The National Solid Waste Management Sector.................................................... 15
3. Current Situation of Municipal Solid Waste Management
in the Selected Governorates ................................................................................. 61
4. Analysis and Benchmarking ................................................................................ 103
5. Future Perspectives .............................................................................................. 117
Table of Contents
1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................6
1.1 Background and General Aspects..........................................................................................................................6
1.2 Methodology.............................................................................................................................................................9
1.3 Demographic and Socio-Economic Indicators....................................................................................................10
1.4 Solid Waste Facts and Figures..............................................................................................................................11
2. The National Solid Waste Management Sector......................................................................................................15
2.1 Municipal Solid Waste Management....................................................................................................................16
2.1.1 Waste generation and composition.................................................................................................................16
2.1.2 Waste collection, treatment and disposal.......................................................................................................18
2.1.3 Policy, legal and institutional framework........................................................................................................30
2.1.4 Strategy and action plans.................................................................................................................................34
2.1.5 Finance and cost recovery................................................................................................................................35
2.1.6 Private sector participation...............................................................................................................................39
2.1.7 Environmental and social aspects...................................................................................................................45
2.2 Industrial and Hazardous Waste Management...................................................................................................48
2.2.1 Generation, treatment and disposal................................................................................................................48
2.2.2 Institutional arrangements...............................................................................................................................50
2.3 Medical Waste Management.................................................................................................................................52
2.3.2. Institutional arrangements..............................................................................................................................54
2.4 Construction and Demolition Waste Management..............................................................................................55
2.5 Agriculture Residues Management......................................................................................................................57
2.6 Literature review on SWM in Egypt......................................................................................................................60
3 Current Situation of Municipal Solid Waste Management in the Selected Governorates......................................61
3.1 Waste Related Data................................................................................................................................................62
3.2 Waste Collection....................................................................................................................................................71
3.3 Waste Treatment and Disposal.............................................................................................................................84
3.4 Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (3Rs).........................................................................................................................96
3.5 User Inclusivity.......................................................................................................................................................99
3.6 Provider Inclusivity...............................................................................................................................................101
4 Analysis and Benchmarking...................................................................................................................................103
4.1 The Integrated Sustainable Waste Management Framework..........................................................................104
4.2 Benchmark Indicators.........................................................................................................................................106
4.3 Comparing Key Waste-related Data and Benchmark Indicators.....................................................................107
4.3.1 Selected cities and villages.............................................................................................................................107
4.3.2 Waste generation.............................................................................................................................................107
4.3.3 Waste composition..........................................................................................................................................109
4.3.4 Physical Elements of the System...................................................................................................................110
5 Future Perspectives................................................................................................................................................117
5.1 Implementation of Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM).........................................................118
5.1.1 Integrated Sustainable Waste Management Planning................................................................................120
5.2 National Responsibilities.....................................................................................................................................124
5.3 Economic Instruments........................................................................................................................................127
5.4 Financial Sustainability (cost recovery and other measures)...........................................................................129
5.5 Extended Producer Responsibility......................................................................................................................132
5.6 Financial Institutions Participation.....................................................................................................................137
5.7 Private Sector Participation................................................................................................................................138
5.8 Informal Sector Participation..............................................................................................................................141
5.9 Multi-Stakeholders Involvement........................................................................................................................145
5.10 Public Awareness and Community Participation............................................................................................147
5.11 Efficient Data / IT National System...................................................................................................................149
5.12 Development of Pilot Projects...........................................................................................................................151
5.13 Decentralised Solid Waste Management.........................................................................................................153
5.14 International Development Agencies Support.................................................................................................155
Annexes
Annex 1: Refined Definition of Benchmark Indicators
Annex 2: E-Waste Management and the Egyptian Subproject “Sustainable Recycling Industries” Programme
Annex 3: Literature Review on SWM in Egypt
Annex 4: Governorate’s Case Studies
Annex 5: International Success Stories
Annex 6: Review of Market-Based Instruments that have Potential Application to SWM
Annex 7: Management Models for Decentralised SWM Projects
List of Tables
Table 1 Generated solid waste in Egypt,2010......................................................................................................................12
Table 2 Generated solid waste in Egypt, 2001, 2006 and 2012...........................................................................................13
Table 3 Daily generated municipal solid waste in 2012......................................................................................................17
Table 4 MSW collection coverage at the selected Governorates......................................................................................18
Table 5 Accumulated solid waste in the selected Governorates.......................................................................................20
Table 6 Allocated areas and locations of waste separation, recycling and disposal facilities.......................................21
Table 7 Composting facilities and final disposal sites in the selected Governorates.....................................................23
Table 8 Analysis of SWM strategy targets, relevant performance indicators and gaps.................................................31
Table 9 Annual expenses and revenues of MSWM in some of the selected Governorates in 2012...............................37
Table 10 Annual contract values of SWM companies serving Cairo Governorate...........................................................38
Table 11 EEAA required financial allocations to improve the MSW services19...............................................................39
Table 12 The executive stance of SWM projects and public cleaning in the Governorates............................................41
Table 13 Daily generated hazardous medical wastes........................................................................................................52
Table 14 Generated MSW in the selected Governorates in 2012.......................................................................................65
Table 15 Generated MSW in Qena Governorate..................................................................................................................68
Table 16 Per capita MSW generation in the selected Governorates.................................................................................68
Table 17 Composition of MSW in the selected Governorates............................................................................................69
Table 18 Comparative analysis of solid waste collection services in the selected Governorates..................................80
Table 19 Comparative analysis of solid waste treatment and disposal services in the selected Governorates..........94
Table 20 Key Waste-related data, population, MSW generation and composition in the selected cities and villages..108
Table 21 Benchmark indicators in the selected cities and villages................................................................................112
Table 22 Packaging recycling rates in European Union countries.................................................................................134
Table 23 The German packaging ordinance recycling requirements.............................................................................135
Table 24 Recycling requirements in the Swedish ordinance on producers responsibility for packaging..................136
List of Figures
Figure 1 Integrated sustainable waste management (ISWM) framework.........................................................................8
Figure 2 The hardware and software triangles of ISWM......................................................................................................8
Figure 3 Map of Egypt’s Administrative Divisions/Governorates......................................................................................10
Figure 4 Generated solid waste in Egypt, 2010...................................................................................................................12
Figure 5 Generated solid waste in Egypt, 2001, 2006 and 2012.........................................................................................14
Figure 6 Municipal solid waste generation (Tonnes/day) in 2012......................................................................................17
Figure 7 Municipal solid waste composition.......................................................................................................................17
Figure 8 Location of the selected sites for separation, recycling and disposal...............................................................22
Figure 9 Waste hierarchy pyramid.......................................................................................................................................28
Figure 10 The development of urban built-up area of Greater Cairo Region..................................................................40
Figure 11 Extent of informal settlements in Greater Cairo Region..................................................................................40
Figure 12 Citizens satisfaction by selected services..........................................................................................................41
Figure 13 Treated hazardous medical wastes in Greater Cairo........................................................................................53
Figure 14 Produced and recycled rice straw in 2009/2010................................................................................................57
Figure 15 Generated MSW in the selected Governorates in 2012.....................................................................................67
Figure 16 Composition of MSW in the selected Governorates..........................................................................................69
Figure 17 The planning process of a SWM........................................................................................................................121
Figure 18 Economic instruments of the different stages of the waste management process....................................128
Figure 19 An example of Full Cost Accounting.................................................................................................................130
List of Boxes
Box 1 Integrated sustainable waste management (ISWM)..................................................................................................7
Box 2 Subcontracting with micro- and small enterprises to optimise collection efficiency..........................................20
Box 3 Establishing an organisation for the implementation and consolidation of biological treatment of
biodegradable waste..............................................................................................................................................................25
Box 4 Best practices for utilising landfill gas for energy (LFGE) technologies................................................................26
Box 5 Main principles of waste management hierarchy....................................................................................................29
Box 6 Dutch successes: public and private sector aren’t wasting their time..................................................................29
Box 7 Formalisation of the traditional garbage collectors.................................................................................................43
Box 8 The Egyptian National Cleaner Production Centre (ENCPC)..................................................................................48
Box 9 Integrated thinking: solid waste management in Singapore..................................................................................55
Box 10 Asian Development Bank’s rural biogas project: A hit in China...........................................................................59
Box 11 The informal sector activities in Ezbet El-Nawar, El-Zarayb, El-Khossos, Kalyobiya Governorate..................89
Box 12 The Brazilian experience to encourage waste picker inclusion in SWM...........................................................102
Box 13 EU Principles for waste management...................................................................................................................124
Box 14 The main roles and responsibilities of the Integrated Solid Waste Management Sector (ISWMS).................125
Box 15 List of common waste minimisation policy instruments.....................................................................................133
Box 16 SWACH - A Waste Pickers’ Cooperative in Pune, India.......................................................................................142
Box 17 Enabling conditions for integrating the waste informal sector...........................................................................143
Box 18 Key points for successful community based solid waste management............................................................154
List of Photos
Photo 1 Open dumping of MSW in Assiut Governorate......................................................................................................11
Photo 2 Dumping of MSW in a watercourse, Al Gharbya Governorate.............................................................................11
Photo 3 Litter thrown out of the collection bins in a slum area in Fayoum City..............................................................19
Photo 4 Collection point in Banha, Kalyobiya Governorate................................................................................................19
Photo 5 Self ignition of waste at an uncontrolled dumpsite in Fayoum Governorate.....................................................22
Photo 6 Accumulated waste plateau adjacent to the compost plant in Tanta, Al Gharbya Governorate......................22
Photo 7 The Compost plant in Beila, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate...................................................................................25
Photo 8 RDF production line at Suez compost plant..........................................................................................................27
Photo 9 Household waste dumped on a bridge in Tanta city.............................................................................................45
Photo 10 Self burning of MSW at Samanoud dumpsite plateau, Al Gharbya Governorate............................................45
Photo 11 Waste pickers at a MSW collection point in Fayoum city...................................................................................46
Photo 12 Waste pickers at Abu Zaabal dumpsite...............................................................................................................47
Photo 13 Transportation vehicle for hazardous medical waste at Suez Governorate....................................................53
Photo 14 Hazardous medical waste incinerator at Suez Governorate.............................................................................53
Photo 15 CDW dumped on roadside at Tanta city...............................................................................................................55
Photo 16 Dumped agricultural waste at Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate.............................................................................57
Photo 17 Collection workers in (a) Qena, (b) Fayoum, (c) Banha, (d) Tanta, (e) Kafr El Sheikh and (f) Suez.................72
Photo 18 Transfer station at Markez Senuris, Fayoum Governorate................................................................................75
Photo 19 Transfer station at Fayoum City...........................................................................................................................75
Photo 20 Collection bins in (a) Fayoum, (b) Banha, (c) Kafr El Sheikh and (d) Suez cities..............................................77
Photo 21 The compost plants in (a) Qena, (b) Assiut, (c) Abu Zaabal, (d) Tanta, (e) Beila and (f) Suez..........................85
Photo 22 The dumpsites in (a) Qena, (b) Assiut, (c) Fayoum, (d) Abu Zaabal, (e) Samannoud and (f) Suez...................87
List of Abbreviations
AD Anaerobic Digestion
ARFs Advanced Recycling Fees
CAC Command and Control
CAPMAS Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics
CBO Community Based Organisation
CD Capacity Development
CDW Construction and demolition waste
DfE Design for Environment
EC European Commission
EEAA Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency
EGED The Egyptian-German-EU-Development Partnership
EIA Environmental Impact Assessment
EIs Economic Instruments
EMU Environmental Management Unit
ENCPC Egyptian National Cleaner Production Centre
EPR Extender Producer Responsibility
ESTs Environmentally Sound Technologies
EU European Union
FCA Full Cost Accounting
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GHG Greenhouse Gas
GIZ Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
ILO Inter¬national Labour Organisation
IMC Egyptian Inter Ministerial Committee for Solid Waste Management
ISWM Integrated and Sustainable Waste Management
ISWMS Integrated Solid Waste Management Sector
KfW Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau
LE Egyptian Pounds
LFG Landfill Gas
LFGE Landfill Gas for Energy
MHP Ministry of Health and Population
MoH Ministry of Housing
MoLD Ministry of State for Local Development
MSEA Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs
MSEs Micro and Small Enterprises
MSW Municipal Solid Waste
MSWM Municipal Solid Waste Management
MTI Ministry of Trade and Industry
NGO Non Governmental Organisation
NSWMP National Solid Waste Management Programme
OMSW Organic fraction of Municipal Solid Waste
PA&E Public Awareness and Education
PAYT Pay-As-You-Throw
PPP Public Private Participation
PPP Polluter Pays Principle
PS Private Sector
PSP Private Sector Participation
RDF Refuse Derived Fuel
3Rs Reduce, reuse, recycle
SW Solid Waste
SWM Solid Waste Management
UNDP United Nation Development Programme
UNEP United Nation Environmental Programme
UN-Habitat The United Nations Human Settlements Programme
UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organisation
WB The World Bank Group
WEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment
1 Introduction
This starting chapter exhibits background information on the practices in 2012, with satisfactory empirical
objectives of the current report, together with the accountable content enabling the formulation of an
drivers used for the development of waste management, the engaging and readable publication, which
integrated and sustainable waste management, the benchmark could also serve as an initial baseline against
indicators practiced for the appraisal and judgment of municipal which future annual reports performance
solid waste management as well as a description of the could be compared. This would in turn offer
methodology used. The demographic and socio-economic an input into monitoring and evaluation of the
indicators of Egypt are thereafter briefly presented, followed by performance of the NSWMP in convening its
a discussion of the present situation of the national solid waste objectives and targets.
management sector, highlighting the generated quantities of
municipal, medical, construction & demolition, agricultural, The emphasis of the report is to shape
industrial and waterway cleansing wastes, in addition to sludge. SWM service delivery (waste generation
and composition, street cleaning, collection,
recycling, treatment and disposal) and to
1.1 Background and General signal the range of different situations in
Egypt. The report focuses on MSWM with all
Aspects the compulsory details to be particularized.
Other waste streams are verified in terms
Quite a lot of publications have been written of quantity, collection, treatment and
during the last decades on solid waste disposal activities, in addition to the specific
management in Egypt targeting different institutional arrangements. Special attention
approaches and audience.1, 2, 3, 4 However until has been instructed to profiling SWM
now we are still missing a systematic set of services and practices in seven Governorates,
objectively verifiable indicators assessing the i.e., Assiut, Fayoum, Kalyobiya, Al Gharbya,
actual performance of SWM sector on the Kafr El Sheikh and Suez.
ground, and the quality of data that support
such analysis. Six broad groups of drivers are answerable
for development in WM 5. Public health led
Within the context of the EGED-NSWMP to the advent of formalised waste collection
reinforcing the sustainable development systems in the nineteenth century, and
of Egypt’s SWM sector, all-encompassing persists as a key driver in most developing
aftermath of the non-existence of data countries. Environmental protection came to
collection and systematised reporting the frontage in the 1970s, with an initial focus
are restricting the competence to reach on rejecting uncontrolled disposal, followed
truthful plans and to attract investment in by a systematic upsurge in the technical
infrastructure and services. This report kept standards. Today, developing countries seem
those criteria in the frontage of the effort, as still to be harassed with these first steps;
sustainability and investment attraction are while climate change is also emerging as
pillars of any wide-ranging profitable effort. a key driver. The resource value of waste,
which consents people to make their living
The ambition of this report is to reward from discarded materials, was a historically
intuition into the enduring solid waste imperative driver, and still leftover in many
1. Tarek Zaki (2010) Country Report on the Solid Waste Management in Egypt. SWEEP-Net, http://www.sweep-net.org/ckfinder/userfiles/files/country-profiles/
rapport-Egypte-en.pdf
2. Tarek Zaki (2012) Country Report on the Solid Waste Management in Egypt. SWEEP-Net, http://www.sweep-net.org/sites/default/files/files/FICHES%20
ANG%20EGYPTE.pdf
3. EcoConServ Environmental Solutions (December 2010), “Up Stream Poverty and Social Impact Analysis (PSIA) for Egypt’s Solid Waste Management Reform”,
MoLDD/UNDP/ World Bank
4. Maike Didero (2012), Cairo’s Informal Waste Collectors: A Multi-scale and Conflict Sensitive Perspective on Sustainable Livelihoods, Erdkunde, Vol. 66, 27 -
44 (http://www.erdkunde.uni-bonn.de/archive/2012/cairo2019s-informal-waste-collectors-a-multi-scale-and-conflict-sensitive-perspective-on-sustainable-
livelihoods)
6 01 Introduction — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013

developing countries until today. The up-to- depending on their own perspectives. The
date trend in developed countries is closing next adopt steps towards developing a
the loop, shifting from the concept of ‘end- sustainable integrated waste management
of-pipe’ WM towards a more all-inclusive will also fluctuate in each local situation.
resource management. Two underpinning
groups of drivers are institutional and The ‘lens’ approach of Integrated and
responsibility issues, and public awareness. Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM)
has been amended in the present study.
There is no, one single driver for development This approach had been fostered in the
in WM: the balance between these six groups UN-Habitat flagship publication “Solid
of drivers has assorted over time, and will Waste Management in the World’s Cities”6,
vary between countries depending on their and applied to analyse the new data set
local settings, and between stakeholders assembled on 20 cities in six continents 7.
Box 1 Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM)6

Integrated sustainable waste management (ISWM), including households, offices and businesses, hotels
as shown in Figure 1, is a framework that was first and restaurants, institutions such as hospitals and
developed during the mid 1980s by WASTE, a Dutch schools, and government facilities such as airports or
non-governmental organisation (NGO), and WASTE’s the post office.
South partner organisations, and further widened
by the Collaborative Working Group on Solid Waste Elements: These are the technical components
Management in Low- and Middle-Income Countries of a WM system. Part of the purpose of using the
(CWG) in the mid 1990s. Since then it has become the ISWM framework is to reveal that these technical
‘norm’. components are just a part of the inclusive picture,
ISWM is a system approach that distinguishes not all of it. In Figure 1, the boxes in the top row
three critical dimensions necessitated to be tackled all attach to removal and safe disposal, and the
when upwarding and/or fluctuating a solid waste bottom row of boxes relate to ‘valorisation’ of
management system. The dimensions, shown in commodities. SWM entails a variety of activities,
Figure 1, resemble three key questions as follows: including reduction, reuse, recycling and composting,
1. The stakeholders – the people or organisations functioned by a variety of stakeholders at various
with a ‘stake’ or interest in SWM: who needs to be scales.
involved?
2. The elements – the technical modules of a WM Aspects: For a WM system to be sustainable, it
system: what needs to be done? requisites to deem all with of the operational,
3. The aspects which need to be deemed as part of financial, social, institutional, political, legal and
a sustainable solution: how to attain the desired environmental aspects. These form the third
results? dimension in Figure 1. The aspects provide a series
of analytical ‘lenses’, which could be manipulated,
Stakeholders: The main ‘recognised’ stakeholders for example, for assessing the situation, determining
involve the local authority (mightor, city council, and feasibility, identifying urgencies or setting adequacy
solid waste department), the national environment criteria.
and local government ministries, and one or two
private companies working under contract to the ‘Integrated’ in ISWM denotes the connexions and
municipality. Habitually unrecognized stakeholders interdependency between the various activities
include (female) street sweepers, (male) workers on (elements), stakeholders and ‘points of view’
collection trucks, dumpsite ‘waste pickers’, some (sustainability aspects). Moreover, it advocates that
of whom might actually live on or at the edge of the technical, but also legal, institutional and economic
dumpsite, and family-based businesses that live from linkages are indispensable to empower the overall
recycling. system to function.
Other key stakeholders include the waste generators:
the users of the WM service afforded by the city,
5. David C. Wilson (2007), “Development Drivers for Waste Management”, Waste Management and Research, 25, 198–207
6. UN-Habitat (2010) Solid Waste in the World’s Cities. In UN-Habitat’s State of Water and Sanitation in the World’s Cities Series. London and Washington DC:
Earthscould for UN-Habitat.
7. D. C. Wilson., L. Rodic, A. Scheinberg, C. A. Velis and G. Alabaster (2012) “Comparative Analysis of Solid Waste Management in 20 Cities”, Waste Manag. Res.
30: 237 UN-habitat, Refined Definition of Benchmark Indicators, Summary Presentation of the Benchmarks Indicators for a Hypothetical City, Revised
01 Introduction — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013 7

1 Inte
grate
d Sustainable Waste Man
agem
ent
Stakeholders
• Local authorities
• NGOs/CBOs
• Service users
• Private informal sector
• Private formal sector
• Donor agencies
Sustainability
Generation and separation Collection Transfer and transport Treatment and disposal
Process
time
Reduction Reuse Recycling Recovery
Aspects
Figure 1 Integrated • Technical
sustainable waste • Environmental / health
management (ISWM) • Financial / economic
framework6 • Socio-cultural
• Institutional
Source: WASTE “Advisers • Policy / Legal / Political
on urban environment and
development”, Gouda, the
Netherland)
For expediency ISWM is partitioned into two The second triangle focuses on ISWM
‘triangles’ (Figure 2); the physical elements ‘software’: the governance strategies to
(hardware) and the governance features dispense a well operative system. Three
(software)6. The first triangle involves the interrelated necessities for delivering ISWM
three key physical elements ‘hardware’ that were eminent. There is a need for the system
all need to be tackled for an ISWM to work to:
sustainably over the long term: 1. Be inclusive, providing translucent spaces
1. Public health: maintaining healthy for stakeholders to interpose as users,
conditions in cities, predominantly providers and enablers (Social Support);
through a sound waste collection service; 2. Be financially sustainable, which means
2. Environment: protection of the cost-effective and affordable (Financial
environment throughout the waste Viability); and
chain, notably throughout treatment and 3. Rest on a base of sound institutions
disposal; and and pro-active policies (Institutional
3. Resource management: ‘closing the Development).
loop’ by restoring materials, energy
and nutrients to beneficial use, through
avoiding waste and striving for high rates
of organics recovery, reuse and recycling.
Public Health Development
HARDWARE SOFTWARE
Figure 2 The hardware and
software triangles of ISWM
Environmental Resource Financial Social Source: ( ISWA, Solid Waste:
Protection Management Viability Support Guidelines for Successful
Planning, 2012)

1.2 Methodology
This report donates a study of the subsisting The first four indicator groups were applied
waste management situation through a more intensely and systematically in the
professional lens. Primary data collection analysis of the current situation in the
was achieved using interviews with the selected Governorates. Information/data
main stakeholders, observations within collection for the other indicator groups was
site visits and desk research of reports and embraced to some extent in the field work.
papers. The report is the first of a series of A quality assurance (QA) plan had been
reports that will assess SWM in the Egyptian planned in the inception phase and followed
Governorates, as part of a future nation-wide in the day to day work of the project team
effort to create a consistent SW data and to insure that appropriate standards
information base. are sustained. The QA plan included the
following:
Field visits afforded insight on the actual - Information collected from diverse
state of affairs, problems and restrictions sources and site visits are reviewed for
faced in the realization of the system. exactness;
These findings are discussed further in - Verification of data;
the case studies of the Governorates. A - In case of disputing data, the different
series of interviews and discussions were figures were provided and evaluated;
performed with the officials in the selected - Highlighting possible inadequacies
Governorates, waste management service of the presented data (unreliable,
sector, and the civil society to collect outdated, etc.);
information and data which assisted - The assessment of the SWM sector in
in analysing the service functioning in the selected Governorates is directed
accordance with a clearly termed set of using the aforementioned set of
indicators. indicators to help guarantee traceability
and compatibility with future reports as
In order to make the comparison feasible well as objectivity; and
among the selected Governorates, a set of - Any data/information obtained from an
benchmark indicators had been applied 8 external source is clearly referenced.
. Those indicators were operated to weigh
the range of institutional, technical and
promotional features of the current SWM in
the Governorates and to define key shortfalls
and constraints. Annex 1 provides the draft
template of indicators used in profiling waste
management practices in the Governorates.
The indicator template includes:
i) Waste collection and street sweeping
service quality and coverage (public
health indicator);
ii) Waste disposal quality and coverage
(environmental control indicator);
iii) Reduce, reuse, and recycle (3Rs)
(resource recovery indicator);
iv) Degree of service user and provider
inclusion in the planning and delivery of
services (inclusivity indicator);
v) Degree of financial sustainability
(financial sustainability indicator); and
vi) Degree of institutional coherence
(institutional coherence indicator).
8. UN-habitat, Refined Definition of Benchmark Indicators, Summary Presentation of the Benchmarks Indicators for a Hypothetical City, Revised UN-habitat
Indicators v5-3, unpublished work, (cf. Annex 1 of this report). Egypt State Information Center, http://www.sis.gov.eg/en/story.aspx?sid=6

1
Figure 3 Map of Egypt’s
Administrative Divisions/
Governorates
1.3 Demographic and Socio-Economic Indicators

Egypt is sited in the northeast corner of In 2007, the percentage of literacy in Egypt’s
Africa and shares its boundaries with the population (15+) was estimated at 70.4% of
Mediterranean Sea in the North with a the total population (62.7% of females). The
coastline of 995 km, Sudan in the South, labour force comprised 20.5% professionals
Palestine, Israel and the Red Sea in the East and technical staff (31.0% of females) and
and Libya in the West (Figure 3). the percentage of women in labour force was
23.9%10. The unemployment rate was 8.9%;
Egypt is divided into 27 Governorates, 217 62.4% in individuals with secondary education
cities and 4617 villages 9. The geographical and 32.8% in holders of university degrees.
regions as set in the urban plan are: Upper In 2008, 37.9% of the population had received
Egypt, North Upper Egypt, Central Egypt, secondary or higher education (33.5% of
Metropolitan Cairo, Suez Canal Region, females).
Alexandria & Matrouh, and Nile Delta.
During FY 2011/12, the Egyptian economy
The estimated population of Egypt, in the 1st has been held back by lingering insecurity
of January, 2012, is 81,395,541 inhabitants; and political instability due to ramifications
of which 51.13% are males and 48.87% are of the revolution as well as sluggish
females 10. 42.9% of the inhabitants live global growth13. Real GDP is projected to
in urban areas and 57.1% in rural areas. grow at a modest rate of around 1.7%,
The annual population growth rate is 2.0%. reflecting disruption across various sectors,
According to the final results of the 2006 most importantly tourism, construction
population census, the average size of a and manufacturing. Egypt’s economy is
household in urban (rural) areas is 3.9 (4.4) suffering from a severe downturn and the
persons. Government faces numerous challenges14.
The biggest challenge is how to restore
According to the latest available data from growth and market confidence, and how to
Egypt Human Development Report (2010), coax investors into financing projects again.
the annual GDP per Capita was LE 10,246.1 Another challenge will be addressing the
and the Human Development Index was Egyptian population’s high expectations,
0.731 in FY 2007/08 11. However, according especially regarding youth employment. That
to Egypt’s Ministry of Finance, the GDP is not an easy task, as the sharp economic
per Capita was LE 17,233 in FY 2010/11 12. downturn has translated into higher budget
The population density is 73.6 persons per deficits. The Government faces the central
Km2. The percentage of poor persons in question of how to merge the need for more
urban and rural areas was 11% and 28.9% public spending with the objective of reducing
of the total population of Egypt in 2008/2009, the deficit, which rose to 11 percent of the
respectively. GDP in FY11/12.
9. Egypt State Information Center, http://www.sis.gov.eg/en/story.aspx?sid=6

10. Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) (September 2012), Statistical Yearbook
11. United Nations Development Programme, and the Institute of National Planning, Egypt (2010), Egypt Human Development Report
12. General Economic and Financial Outlook (2012), Ministry of Finance, Egypt, http://www.mof.gov.eg/English/Pages/Selected-Economic-Indicators.aspx
13. O. Helmy and N. Abdel Raouf (2012), “Egypt’s Economic - Profile and Statistics”, The Egyptian Center for Economic Studies,
14. The World Bank, “Egypt Overview” , http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/egypt/overview

1.4 Solid Waste Facts and Figures
Solid Waste Management (SWM) endures health and the environment. Urbanisation
as a tenacious environmental and health encompasses the enlargement of slum
anxiety for Egypt and has become a areas and the establishment of new ones.
momentous concern for the sustainability of Population growth exaggerates the burden
the country. The increasing levels of waste on urban infrastructure in many cities which
generation, changing waste characteristics are already overburdened with the delivery
and impediment in financing apt technology of urban services. The Governorates lack
for disposal have been a challenge to the the resources, both technical and financial,
Governorates. With the diversification of to convene the demand for services such
waste streams as well as the growing as water, sanitation and solid waste
incidence of household hazardous waste, management.
electronic waste (WEEE), construction and
demolition waste (CDW) and hazardous Solid waste that is currently disposed in
medical waste in the general waste stream, dumpsites portrays the greatest potential
the involvedness and daunting nature of for recycling, processing, or reuse (Photos 1
waste management challenges have gone & 2). Dry waste such as plastics, paper, and
beyond the capacity of many municipalities
– in terms of finance, technology, and
institutional mandate, resulting in
unprecedented adverse impacts on the
quality of life, human health, freshwater
resources, and local environment and
ecosystems.
Open burning and reliance on open

dumping are still prevalent in many parts
of the country, resulting in greenhouse gas
emissions and formation of leachates in
disposal sites. The reduction of organic waste
generation and its proper treatment would
provide a sustainable solution. However,
up till now, no efforts towards prevention
and/or minimisation of wastes were taken.
At the same time, the non-existence of
effective policies and programmes at the
national level and the dearth of mandatory
infrastructure (for collection, storage,
handling/processing, treatment, recycling,
converting waste to energy, etc.) obstruct the
development of the sector.
Egypt is undergoing increasing population,

industrialisation, urbanisation, and shifting
consumption patterns that resulted in
the generation of escalating amounts of
diversified solid waste representing the most
perceptible environmental problem among
many in urban areas. The unsatisfactory Above: Photo 1 Open dumping of MSW in Assiut
collection and unacceptable disposal of Governorate
solid waste signify a source of water, land Down: Photo 2 Dumping of MSW in a watercourse, Al
and air pollution, and inquire risks to human Gharbya Governorate

1 metals are readily recycled. However, wet capita MSW generation rates by Governorate,
organic waste forms the bulk of the problems differentiating between urban and rural
and could constitute as much as 60% of the areas. These estimates were included in the
total waste stream. Selected organic waste June 2000 draft National Municipal Solid
could either be reduced or transformed into Waste Strategy, without explanation of how
organically beneficial products through the they were derived. Those coefficients have
application of new and innovative approaches been mutual with population data from
and technologies. These resources could the 1996 census to derive MSW generation
be reused for the production of energy, estimates.
organic fertilizers, and animal feed as well.
Such attitude is in line with the principles of Table 1 and Figure 4 illustrate the generated
sustainable development, where competent quantities of solid waste in Egypt, in 2010,
exploitation of resources is closely linked according to MoLD16 .
with poverty alleviation goals.
However, Table 2 and Figure 5 exhibit
No straightforward data are available the corresponding estimated data for the
on municipal waste flow in Egypt15. generated wastes, based on EEAA figures for
Approximations have been made of per the years: 2001, 2006 and 2012.
Waste Type Generated Quantity

(Tonnes)
Municipal solid waste 13,806,269
Construction and demolition waste 41,748,603
Agricultural waste 30,000,000
Industrial waste 2,906,895
Medical waste 3,416,254
Table 1 Generated solid Waterway cleansing waste 3,058,509
waste in Egypt,2010
Source: MoLD
Total 94,936,530
Industrial wate, %3
Medical waste, %4
Waterway cleansing waste, %3
Municipal solid waste, %14
Construction and demolition waste, %44
Figure 4 Generated solid

waste in Egypt, 2010 Agricultural waste, %32
15. Joy E. Hecht (November 2001), “Monitoring System: Draft Prototype Working Indicators”, Egyptian Environmental Policy Program
16. Egypt in Figures (2012), Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics, Source: MoLD

Everyday problems for MSWM include of success. Therefore, the total amount
institutional deficiencies, inadequate of generated MSW is a desperate piece of
legislation and resource constraints. Open information and there is an urgent need to
dumping is still well-thought-out as the most exploit trustworthy and accurate methods for
popular method of solid waste disposal. Long its continual measurement
and short term plans are derisory due to No straightforward data are available
capital and human resource restrictions. on municipal waste flow in Egypt .
Approximations have been made of per
One keynote argues to national development capita MSW generation rates by Governorate,
and planning of the SWM sector is the differentiating between urban and rural
lack of trustworthy data on the quantities areas. These estimates were included in the
of generated waste and its composition. June 2000 draft National Municipal Solid
To design an effective waste management Waste Strategy, without explanation of how
program, our prerequisite is to know how they were derived. Those coefficients have
much MSW must be managed. Moreover, if been mutual with population data from
we aim to reduce MSW generation, tracking the 1996 census to derive MSW generation
the total MSW will be an imperative indicator estimates.
Waste Type Generated Quantity (Million Tonnes)
2001 17 2006 18 2012 19

Municipal solid waste 14.5 17 21
Construction and demolition 3.5 4.6 4.0
waste
Agricultural waste 23.5 27.5 30
Industrial waste 4.25 4.75 6.0
Medical waste 0.12 0.15 0.28
Waterway cleansing waste 20 30 25
Table 2 Generated solid
waste in Egypt, 2001, 2006 Sludge 1.75 2 3
and 2012
Total 67.12 86 89.28
Source: EEAA
17. EEAA (2001), “Solid Waste System in Egypt”

18. MSEA/EEAA (2007), “Egypt State of the Environment”
19. Waste Management Central Department (2012), EEAA

1 Table 1 and Figure 4 illustrate the generated One keynote argues to national development
quantities of solid waste in Egypt, in 2010, and planning of the SWM sector is the
according to MoLD . lack of trustworthy data on the quantities
However, Table 2 and Figure 5 exhibit of generated waste and its composition.
the corresponding estimated data for the To design an effective waste management
generated wastes, based on EEAA figures for program, our prerequisite is to know how
the years: 2001, 2006 and 2012. much MSW must be managed. Moreover, if
we aim to reduce MSW generation, tracking
Everyday problems for MSWM include the total MSW will be an imperative indicator
institutional deficiencies, inadequate of success. Therefore, the total amount
legislation and resource constraints. Open of generated MSW is a desperate piece of
dumping is still well-thought-out as the most information and there is an urgent need to
popular method of solid waste disposal. Long exploit trustworthy and accurate methods for
and short term plans are derisory due to its continual measurement.
capital and human resource restrictions.

Figure 5 Generated solid

waste in Egypt, 2001, 2006
and 2012

2. The National Solid
Waste Management
Sector
2 The National
Solid Waste
Management
Sector
This chapter deliberates the current situation of the national solid waste management
sector and provides a comprehensive assessment of all attributes of municipal solid waste
management, including quantities of waste generated and its composition; the policy, legal
and institutional framework; strategies and action plans, with special focus on the newly
established National Solid Waste Management Programme (NSWMP); finance and cost
recovery; formal and informal private sector involvement; and the environmental and social
features. Furthermore, the generation, treatment, disposal and institutional arrangements
of industrial, hazardous, medical, construction & demolition, and agricultural waste
management are fleetingly considered. The last section points to a literature review on SWM
in Egypt that is given in details in Annex 3.
2.1 Municipal Solid Waste Management
2.1.1 Waste generation and masonry. In some Governorates this might

composition represent a large percent of the total waste
stream.
Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is defined In 2012, Egypt generated about 57,020
as waste collected and treated by, or tonnes/day of MSW19. No official or
for municipalities. It covers residential, published figures are available for MSW per
commercial, street sweepings, contents of capita. The MSW per capita (kg per year) is
litter containers, and market cleansing. 253.16, as calculated by the authors of the
present report. Table 3 and Figure 6 show
An important constituent that needs to be the daily generated MSW at the different
deemed is construction & demolition waste Governorates.
(CDW), such as building rubble, concrete and
It should be noted that the available data for MSW generation

presented in this report is a mere approximation. An accurate
measurement of generated MSW and an analysis of its
composition should be carried out in the 27 Governorates of
Egypt. The participating local authorities should be selected to
represent Egypt as a whole, according to a sampling framework
based on; frequency of residual waste collection, volume,
population density (urban or rural), etc.
16 02 The National Solid Waste Management Sector — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013
Governorate Generated Waste Governorate Generated Waste
(Tonnes/Day)19 (Tonnes/Day)19
Cairo 15,000 Fayoum 720
Giza 4,500 Bani Souwaif 800
Alexandria 4,000 Menia 1,300
Kalyobiya 3,500 Assiut 700
Dakahliya 4,500 Sohag 1,100
Al Gharbya 3,500 Qena 1,080
Monufia 2,500 Aswan 800
El-Beheira 3,500 Luxor 470
Kafr El-Sheikh 2,500 Red Sea 450
Sharqeia 2,200 Matruh 300
Damietta 1,100 North Sinai 250
Ismailia 600 South Sinai 500
Port Said 650 New Valley 100
Suez 400
Table 3 Daily
Total 57,020 Tonnes/Day generated municipal
solid waste in 2012
Waste composition is shaped by factors such highest proportion of organic waste. Paper,
as culture, economic development, climate, plastics, and other dry materials make up the
and energy sources; composition impacts highest proportion of MSW in high income
how often waste is collected and how it is countries. Figure 7 exhibits the composition
disposed . Low-income countries have the of MSW in Egypt in 201220.
Paper / Cardbord 10%
Plastics 13%
Glasse 4%
Metal 2%
Others 15%
Organic 56%
Figure 6 Municipal solid Figure 7 Municipal solid

waste generation (Tonnes/ waste composition in
day) in 2012 Egypt (2012)
20. D. Hoornweg and P. Bhada-Tata (March 2012), “What a Waste - A Global Review of Solid Waste Management”, Urban Development Series, Knowledge
Papers, No. 15, The World Bank
02 The National Solid Waste Management Sector — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013 17
2 The presented composition data of MSW The percentage of population who has access
shortages accuracy due to: to a reliable waste collection service, at
- Absence of source separation of waste. different Governorates of Egypt is given in
- MSW commonly contains a fraction of Table 4.
sand, soil and CDW.
- Partial collection of paper from The inefficient MSW collection coverage
households by ‘itinerant waste buyers’ (Photos 3 & 4) leads to:
prior to MSW collection. - Accumulation of waste around the
- Partial separation of plastics, paper, collection points/containers;
glass and metals, by the informal - Presence of litter and of overflowing
sector (zabaleen) and waste pickers, for litter bins in the city centre, along main
recycling. roads and in popular places where
- Absence of accurate means for people gather; and
measuring MSW composition. - Illegal dumps and open burning in and
around slums.
2.1.2 Waste collection, treatment Moreover, the majority of the public lack
and disposal environmental ethics and awareness on the
proper disposal of SW and the dangers that
No doubt, quantity and characteristics of the stem from disposal in open dumps.
MSW are the major features that adopt the
technology to be used for waste treatment/ Table 5 presents data on accumulated
disposal. On the basis of the waste quantity, solid waste in the Governorates. About
infrastructure requirement could be 18,513,436 cubic meters of solid waste were
projected. It is also obligatory to carry out accumulated in Egypt, by mid of 2012 that
frequent waste analysis in order to assess might lead to thoughtful public health and
the changes in waste characteristics due to environmental consequences.
ever-changing scenario. This data will also
function as a core for upgrading or switching Street sweeping is the customary method of
over to better treatment/disposal option. primary collection of the daily left municipal
waste. Lot of street dust and CDW are
Governorate Waste Collection Governorate Waste Collection

Coverage (%)19 Coverage (%)19
Cairo 70 Fayoum 65
Giza 60 Bani Souwaif 62
Alexandria 65 Menia 55
Kalyobiya 60 Assiut 65
Dakahliya 50 Sohag 60
Al Gharbya 47 Qena 60
Monofiya 40 Aswan 70
El-Beheira 50 Luxor 75
Kafr El-Sheikh 50 Red Sea 60
Sharqeia 45 Matruh 60
Damietta 55 North Sinai 60
Table 4 MSW
collection coverage Ismailia 60 South Sinai 80
at the Governorates Port Said 70 New Valley 60
Source: EEAA, July
2012
Suez 70
collected during street sweeping, making ii) Empowering and specifically allowing
the inert content of wastes relatively high. pluralistic approaches in laws, ordinances
This could be considerably reduced by and regulations, and inspiring pluralism
public participation in source segregation in private sector contracts, i.e. opening up
and selection of suitable collection service. the system and allowing the integration of
Waste generators should possess a strong other parties; and
conviction to stop littering the streets not only iii) Selecting a combination of collection
to reduce the need for street sweeping but techniques that consent for optimum
also to domain a ‘civilised’ image for their recovery of valuable materials by
neighbourhoods. municipal and private collectors (e.g. use
of open but covered trucks with baskets
At the time being, the public sector largely and/or compartments for the various
provides MSWM services in most of the materials, rather than compactors)
Governorates. Such services, however, lack
applicable planning, delivery, monitoring,
liaison and feedback. Moreover, health and
safety measures for collection workers are
meagre.
On the other hand, the introduction

and implementation of Private Sector
Participation (PSP) in the Egyptian market
was mired by several problems . The
Governorates had not been provided
abundant legal framework and/or leadership.
A major source of wastefulness and futility
in PSP are the lack of satisfactory and
appropriate understanding and capacity
at the Governorate level, together with
inadequate national guidance and reinforce.

The broad-spectrum setup of the
procurement approaches used to commence
the first PSP contracts in 2001 was
generally in line with common international
procedures21. However, the approaches in
which Governorates have implemented the
procurements signal an underlying lack of
understanding and mistrust of the private
sector. Significantly, most PSP contracts
were attained and entered into with no, or
insufficient, technical and financial feasibility
analysis and structuring. The size and scope
of most contracts augments the need for a
clear contract rationale.
i) Allowing a mix of approaches and

technologies to be built-in in a well-
planned overall collection system that
covers sufficient secondary collection and Above: Photo 3 Litter thrown out of the collection bins
transfer points, adequate storage space in a slum area in Fayoum City
and drop off centres; Down: Photo 4 Collection point in Banha, Kalyobiya
Governorate
21. Rebel International and EcoConServ Environmental Solutions, “Private Sector Participation in the Municipal Solid Waste Management Sector in Egypt”, Final
Draft Study Report, World Bank, 09.11.10
2
Governorate Accumulated Governorate Accumulated
Waste (m3)19 Waste (m3)19
Cairo 5,000,000 Fayoum 292,500
Giza 3,000,000 Bani Souwaif 150,000
Alexandria 344,830 Menia 500,000
Kalyobiya 2,000,000 Assiut 250,000
Dakahliya 1,800,000 Sohag 281,845
Al Gharbya 750,000 Qena 258,480
Monofiya 280,000 Aswan 385,240
El-Beheira 600,000 Luxor 107,022
Kafr El-Sheikh 227,000 Red Sea 500.000
Sharqeia 510,000 Matruh 146,429
Damietta 100,000 North Sinai 140,000
Table 5 MSW Ismailia 350,000 South Sinai 512,000

Accumulated Port Said 359,040 New Valley
solid waste in the
Governorates Suez 168,550
Source: EEAA, July Total 18,513,436 m3
2012
Box 2 Subcontracting with micro- and small enterprises to optimise collection efficiency22
Another way of bettering collection is subcontracting that secondary collection is steady and reliable
primary waste collection to micro and small 2. Easing bureaucratic hindrances and regulations for
enterprises (MSEs), cooperatives or community- MSEs and CBOs, e.g. officially recognise them as
based organisations (CBOs). MSEs and CBOs usually cadidates for service contracts, monitor worth of
manage at low cost, they are flexible, accepted and their services
supported by the local community, and they initiate 3. Providing standby vehicles in case of (temporary)
employment and income in low-income urban areas. breakdown
They have especially gained their spurs in areas 4. Assisting in the building of community awareness
that are habitually under-served or are not easily 5. Assisting with loans for equipment or business
accessible. training
The municipality could support MSE and CBO waste

collection initiatives by:
1. Keeping to its part of the deal, e.g. making sure
The most important factor motivating Egypt. For each Governorate, maps were
collection efficiency is vehicle productivity shaped for the proposed landfill sites, in
(in kg/vehicle/day). Improving vehicle addition to EIA and in depth studies of soil
productivity denotes increasing the total and groundwater conditions. However, due to
number of generators served and the total the lack of resources, only few landfills were
amount of waste transported each day when established.
the vehicle is in operation.
In April 2011, the Head of the Supreme
Final disposal of solid waste donates an Council of the Armed Forces allocated a total
imperative component of an operative area of 5,339 feddan for establishing five sites
management. In 2001/02, EEAA initiated for separation, recycling and final disposal
a Landfill Siting Program, in collaboration in sanitary landfills of the MSW generated
with the Life Program of the European from Greater Cairo. Table 6 shows the area
Union. Within the domain of the project, and location of the allocated sites given in the
53 sites for landfills were selected in all of Presidential Decree 86/2010.
Figure 8 Location of
the selected sites for
separation, recycling and
disposal
No. Location Allocated Area (Feddan)

1 West of El-Salam road, Belbes 714
2 East of El-Salam road, Belbes 715
3 Valley of Alryahyat mountain at Cairo - Sukhna road 1,197 Table 6 Allocated
areas and locations
4 Al-Hay mountain, El-Saff, Cairo – Korimat road 1,236 of waste separation,
5 Al-Gendy continent, East Cairo – Fayoum road 1,477 recycling and
disposal facilities
Figure 8 shows the locations of the selected generating smoke that contributes to
sites. Since then, no further action was taken, air pollution. Food leftovers and kitchen
due to financial constraints. wastes attract birds, rats, flies and other
animals to the dumpsites. Animals feeding
Open dumping of solid wastes prompt at the dumps might transmit diseases to
various environmental and health threats humans living in the vicinity. Biodegradation
(Photos 5 & 6). The decomposition of of organic materials might take decades,
organic materials produces methane that which limit any future use of the land on
might initiate fires and explosions, and which open dumps are located. The impacts
subsidises global warming. The biological are especially severe for the waste pickers
and chemical processes that develop in open who work in these dumpsites, processing
dumps always yield significant amounts of the waste produced. The increase in waste
leachates that pollute groundwater. Fires volume also denotes an economic challenge.
intermittently break out in open dumps,
22. Christian Muller (2007),.“Anaerobic Digestion of Biodegradable Solid Waste in Low- and Middle-Income Countries”, Eawag (Federal Institute of Aquatic
Research), Switzerland
2
Table 7 A&B provides data on the composting

facilities at the different Governorates, in
addition to the disposal sites. Since 1998,
the Egyptian Government adapted the
open aerobic composting for recycling the
‘wet’ organic portion of MSW. The poor
performance of those composting facilities
might be ascribed to technical, financial, and
operations’ management factors, in addition
to the use of mixed waste that produces low
quality compost and raises the operational
costs of
Above: Photo 5 Self ignition of waste at an uncontrolled

dumpsite in Fayoum Governorate
Down: Photo 6 Accumulated waste plateau adjacent to
the compost plant in Tanta, Al Gharbya Governorate
Governorate Composting Plants19 No. of Final Disposal Sites19
No. of Plants/ Efficiency (%) Uncontrolled Controlled Landfill

Location Dump Dumpsite
Cairo 3 / Katammia 45 - 2 2
1 / Al-Salam city 45
2 / 15th Might city 75
2 / Abo-Rawash 65% for a plantb
Alexandria 1 / Abees 1 - - 2
1 / Abees 2
1 / Al-Montaza
Kalyobiya 1 / Abo-Zaabal Not working - 1 -
Dakahliya 1 / Mansoura Not working 7 9 -
1 / Mataria Not working
1 / Balcas 30
1 / Meet Ghamr 60
1 / Kalabsho 60
1 / Agaa 70
1/ Manzala 70
Al Gharbya 1 / Al-Mahala 40 4 3 1
1 / Tanta 60
1 / Sadaat -
Monofiya 1 / Monuf 30 9 0 1
1 / Koisna 80
1 / Al-Shohada 80
El-Beheira 1 / Damanhour 30 14 - -
1 / Kafr El-Dawar 60
1 / Edco 60
Kafr El-Sheikh 1 / Kafr El-Sheikh Not working - 10 -
city
1 / Sidi Salem 10
1 / Beylla 50
Sharqeia 2 / Zagazig 80% For a plantb 14 - 1
1 / Belbis 65
1 / Abu Kbir 65
Damietta 1 / Damietta 75 6 - -
1 / /Faraskoor 75
1 / Ras El Bar 30
Ismailia 2 / Aboo Balah 30 5 1 -
Port Said 1 / Port Said 40 - 2 1
Suez 1 / Suez 70 - - 1
Matruh 1 / Marsa Matruh 50 - 1 -
North Sinai 1 / Ariesh 20 - 6 -
South Sinai 1 / Sharm El-Sheikh 60 3 - -
2
Governorate Composting Plants19 No. of Final Disposal Sites19
No. of Plants/ Efficiency (%) Uncontrolled Controlled Landfill

Location Dump Dumpsite
Giza 3 / Shobrament 45% for 2 - 1 -
plantsb
2 / Abo-Rawash 65% for a plantb
1 / Sidi Salem 10
1 / Beylla 50
Fayoum 1 / Al-Adwaa 40 5 2 -
Bani Souwaif 1 / New Bani 40 N/A N/A N/A
Souwaif
1 / Samasta 50
Menia 1 / Menia 40 - 9 -
1 / Mallawy 60
1 /Adwa 70
Assiut 1 / Bani Ghaleb 40 0 1 -
Sohag 1 / Al-Gabal Al- 30 11 3 -
Gharby
Qena 1 / Qena/ 40 9 - -
1 / Nagaa Hamadi 40
Aswan 1 / Aswan 40 N/A N/A N/A
1 / Edfoo 50
Luxor 1 / Gobeel 70 2 2 -
Red Sea 1 / Hurghada 60 5 1 -
New Valley 2 / Kharga 0 6 -
Table 7B Composting facilities and

final disposal sites in upper Egypt
Governorates
a
The capacity of each compost plant is
160 tonnes/day
b
In addition to a plant in maintenance
Source: EEAA, July 2012
the plants. Other restricts are the At the National level, most nuisances are
unavailability of proper budget for operation strongly connected with the inappropriate
and maintenance, as well as the absence treatment of the organic fraction of municipal
of qualified workforce and marketing solid waste (OMSW). Composting is the
departments. customized technology for such treatment
in Egypt. However, anaerobic digestion (AD)
The environmental benefits of composting might be a more constructive option to
organic biodegradable waste are: dispense OMSW . Both treatment options
- Composting organic matter rather reduce the environmental
than disposing in dumpsites or landfills
lessens the emission of greenhouse Inconvenience and enable the production
gases like methane. of a good soil conditioner rich in plant
- Using compost as a fertiliser reduces nutrients (Photo 7). Moreover, in the case of
the demands for chemical fertilisers, AD, biogas is generated. Nowadays, where
and stimulates higher crop harvest. energy sources are threatened, expensive
- Compost ameliorates soil conditions, to operate and maintain, production out
and might be used to remediate of biodegradable waste is economically
contaminants through varied chemical, feasible. Thus, AD is realizing more relevance
physical and biological reactions. in SWM.
Compost has also been shown to
adsorp potential toxic elements thus
preventing them from migrating into
groundwater or absorbed by crops.
Box 3 establishing an organisation for the implementation and consolidation of

biological treatment of biodegradable waste
It is a necessitous to institute a self-governing separated biodegradable waste, digester
organisation dedicated for the implementation and technology, composting technology and
consolidation of biological treatment of biodegradable marketing of biogas and compost
waste. It is recommended to start a National Expert - Capacity building
Knowledge Centre. The centre should be part of or - Raising awareness of composting and digestion
under the supervision of a governmental organisation - Develop and carry out demonstration projects
(e.g. MSEA) and should amongst others tackle the - Disseminate knowledge and information: e.g.
following activities: publish newsletters, organise workshops, etc
- Organise and collect information on the technical - Consultancy on design and implementation
and managerial aspects of biodegradable waste - Helpdesk function, assist local operators with
management including collection of source operational problems (troubleshooting)
Photo 7 The Compost plant in Beila, Kafr El-Sheikh

Governorate
2 Anaerobic digestion projects should be On the other hand, the disposal of refuse
further judged as a viable alternative, or is a matter of increasing anxiety for
supporting business activity, conducive of municipalities throughout the world. As
developing treatment projects with potential the existing disposal sites become filled to
investment attraction. capacity and new landfills become costly
The distribution of disposal facilities in to site, developing of alternative disposal
the Governorates, including uncontrolled methods is becoming life-threatening. In
dumpsites, controlled dumpsites and addition, the refuse being buried contains
landfills, is given in Table 7 A & B. Most of considerable quantities of energy that could
the waste ends up in uncontrolled dumpsites replace conventional fossil fuels.
leading to meaningful environmental and Today, the production of refuse derived
health drawbacks. Moreover, the majority fuels (RDF) is an integral part of waste
of the disposal sites lack: environmental management. With the spread of legal
monitoring, inspection and verification limits on or exclusions of the landfilling
regime; means for controlling greenhouse of untreated waste, and the prerequisite
emissions; appropriate management control to extract energy from waste, RDF has
in planning, implementing and monitoring become an important commodity (Photo 8).
services; use of appropriate personal RDF involves organic components of MSW
protection equipment’s and supporting such as plastics and biodegradable waste
procedures; and emergency actions to avoid compressed into pellets, bricks, or logs.
the blow-out of fire. Non-combustible materials such as glass
and metals are detached during the post
Although establishing sanitary landfills are treatment processing cycle. The RDF could
expensive, it is an essential environmental be used alongside traditional sources of fuel
improvement over open dumping. The in coal power plants, cement kiln industry,
ISWM approach would gather stakeholders plasma arc gasification modules, pyrolysis
together (including local authorities, plants etc. RDF is efficient of being cleanly
consumers and manufacturers) to recognize combusted and could offer a funding source
available opportunities for prevention, where unused carbon credits are sold on the
reduction, reuse and recycling of waste, as open market via a carbon exchange.
this will extensively reduce the sum of waste
to be disposed. Mobilising the community,
providing incentives and developing a set of
sanctions for excess disposal will strengthen
such initiative.
Box 4 Best Practices for Utilising Landfill Gas for Energy (LFGE) Technologies23
The overall feasibility of an LFGE project for a feasibility and success of LFGE projects. Proven and
particular landfill depends on numerous technical emerging technologies bid practical solutions to
attentions, such as waste composition and volume, effectively implement LFGE projects for direct-use
quality and quantity of LFG, and availability and and electricity generation, including the treatment
location of a suitable end user. Understanding, of LFG to remove moisture, particulates and other
evaluating and selecting the applicable LFGE impurities.
utilisation technologies is crucial for the overall
Photo 8 RDF production line

at Suez compost plant
23. GMI (2012), “International Best Practices Guide for LFGE Projects, Chapter 4:Landfill Gas Energy Utilization Technologies”, The Global Methane Initiative
2 At present, the challenge in the cement Amreyah Cement will complete pilot trials
industry is the substitution of traditional for the use of rice straw and RDF in their
fossil fuels with unconventional ones. At this cement kiln. Lafarge is implementing the
effort of the cement industry to moderate first RDF plant in Suez Governorate as well
energy costs, the use of RDF has been an as assessing the collection and use of rice
eye-catching solution. Use of cement kilns to straw in one kiln.
co-process RDF has a dual positive effects
since not only there is the energy gain from The cement industry has a momentous
a quantity which used to be rated as a waste role to play in helping overcome the waste
stream but also elucidates the problem of emergency in Egypt. The problems of MSW
space and adverse environmental impacts if and agricultural residues might be solved
this waste had been disposed in landfills. by assuming a policy requiring all cement
companies to use a percentage of RDF and
The recent increase of fuel prices in Egypt biomass in their kilns. This would effectively
is one of the main drivers to use substitute create new jobs and reduce reliance on fossil
fuels such as RDF and agricultural biomass fuels.
in cement industry. This could be deemed
as Cleaner Production options since the In Egypt there endures a whole informal
consequential benefits are 24 : sector of traditional waste collectors
- Reduction in the quantities of waste (zabaleen), scavengers and recyclers, whose
going to disposal; business is to salvage ‘waste’ material.
- Energy recovery from combustible The informal sector reached high recovery
wastes; rates (up to 80%) because the skill to recycle
- Conservation of fossil fuels for future is vital for the livelihoods of the people
generations; involved 25. Consequently, a massive variety
- Net reduction in emissions; of recyclables is segregated and could be
- Taking advantage of the CO2 trading further processed in accordance with new
rules; and demands and technological advancements in
- Reduction in cement production costs. the recycling activities.
Currently, Italcementi, Cimpor, Lavarge On the other hand, as shown in Figure 9, the
and CEMEX are in different stages of waste hierarchy is a key concept in decision
executing fuel switching processes25. making for waste planning and waste
CEMEX cement in Assiut Governorate is management. It provides a sliding scale on
substituting approximately 15.2% of their fuel the preferred ways to deal with waste. The
with agricultural residues and is planning most favoured options sit at the top of the
to expand to replace 50% of their energy scale and the least preferred options at the
by such residues by 2014. Italcementi and bottom.
Most
desirable Reduce.
Reuse.
Recycle / Comoset.
Recover /
Energy-from-Waste.
Figure 9 Waste hierarchy pyramid
Least Dispose / Landfill.
Source: (http://www.electronic- desirable
recycling.ie/blog/index.php/
category/waste-to-energy/)
24. Yasser Askar, Philip Jago, Mostafa M. Mourad and Donald Huisingh, “The Cement Industry in Egypt: Challenges and Innovative Cleaner Production
Solutions”, Knowledge Collaboration & Learning for Sustainable Innovation, ERSCP-EMSU conference, Delft, The Netherlands, October 25-29, 2010
25. Ellen Gunsilius (2010), “ Role of the Informal Sector in SWM and Enabling Conditions for its Integration - Experience from GTZ”, GTZ. (http://www.transwaste.
eu/file/001441.pdf)
Box 5 Main principles of waste management The waste hierarchy inspires waste
reduction, followed by reuse and
hierarchy22 refurbishment of goods, then value recovery
1. Prevent the creation of waste in product design and through recycling and composting. The next
packaging. option is energy recovery, the process of
2. Reduce the toxicity and/or adverse impacts of the generating energy in the form of electricity
generated waste. and/or heat. This option sits in the hierarchy
3. Reuse in their current forms the materials recovered as a less favoured option to reducing waste,
from the waste stream. recycling or composting but is a slightly more
4. Recycle, compost, and/or recover materials for use as favourable solution to landfill as the energy
direct or indirect inputs to new products. and heat could be utilised with the caution
5. Recover energy by incineration, anaerobic digestion and/ that pollution rises from the combustion
or other similar processes. process. Finally, waste disposal to landfill
6. Dispose of waste in an environmentally sound manner, should only be used when no option further
generally in sanitary landfills. up the hierarchy is possible 26, 27 .
Box 6 Dutch successes: public and private sector aren’t wasting their time28
Due to its top-notch waste management structure, Dutch people. More than 90% of Dutch people
the Netherlands is able to recycle no less than 64% separate their household waste.
of its generated waste – and most of the remainder is
incinerated to generate electricity. As a result, only a Lack of space and a growing environmental
small percentage ends up in landfill. In the realm of awareness forced the Dutch government to take
recycling this is a country that is practically unique. measures early on to reduce the landfilling of waste.
The Dutch approach is simple: avoid generating What ultimately proved to be the deciding factor in
waste as much as possible, recover the valuable raw the Netherlands, were the regulations implemented
materials from it, generate energy by incinerating by the Government. Introducing a tax on every tonne
residual waste, and only then dump what is left over – of material landfilled was a key as it gave waste
but do so in an environmentally friendly way. processing companies the incentive to look for other
methods – such as recycling and incinerating –
A survey carried out revealed that separating waste simply because they were now much more attractive
is the most popular environmental measure among from a financial point of view.
In Egypt, due to absence of source promoting the interests of informal workers.

separation of waste, there is no policy and Apart from the few NGOs, there are yet no
practical focus on reduction and reuse waste pickers’ organisations or cooperatives
of waste. The level of organisation in the representing the interests of the poor and
informal waste sector is low and is limited voiceless.
to an organically grown structure of power
and exploitation . Some influential zabaleen In the main, both public and private operators
obtain licenses for waste collection and let don’t use appropriate personal protection
others work for them under poor conditions. equipment’s or supporting procedures in
A few NGOs have come into view in the recycling and composting facilities.
informal waste sector in recent decades,
26. Lardinois, I. and C. Furedy. (1999). “Source Separation of Household Waste Materials - Analysis of Case Studies from Pakistan, the Philippines, India, Brazil,
Argentina and the Netherlands”, Urban Waste Series 7. Gouda, the Netherlands: WASTE
27. Gordon Feller, “Dutch Successes: Public and Private Sector aren’t Wasting their Time”, Waste Management World (http://www.waste-management-world.
com/articles/print/volume-11/issue-1/features/dutch-successes.html)
28. CID Consulting (2008), “ The Informal Sector in Waste Recycling in Egypt”, GTZ
2 2.1.3 Policy, legal and paving the way for investments in that
institutional framework field;
- The “polluter pays principle” and full
The current policy, institutional and legal cost recovery have to be applied to
framework for the WM sector is feeble. enhance private sector participation and
Institutional roles and responsibilities are system sustainability;
indistinguishable and capacity is fragile, not - Promoting recycling by encouraging
only across Ministries, but also throughout recycling industries and developing
Governorates, new communities and markets for recycled products; and
municipalities as well. The division of - Increasing public involvement and
responsibility between Ministries is unclear, awareness in the different dimensions
and this is the forerunner to duplicate effort, of planning, development and
inefficient use of human resources, and lack implementation of the strategy.
of accountability.
However, many of the recommendations
Policy framework: of the strategy did not find their way to
The Egyptian Environmental Policy Program apt implementation, though some dotted
(1999 – 2002) activity was to support policy, efforts and attempts for improvements
institutional, and regulatory reforms in the were initiated1. Analysis of the relevant
environmental sector, focusing on economic performance indicators of the strategy
and institutional restrictions, abridged air targets and detected gaps are summarized in
pollution, improved solid waste management, Table 8.
and natural resources managed for
environmental sustainability29. The policy Legal framework:
intentions that EEAA was pursuing to achieve Egypt doesn’t have SWM legislation till
include improving efficiency and performance now. The legal framework is dispersed in
of the SWM through a combination of many pieces of bylaws, ordinances and
strategic planning, improved administration, regulations. The most considerable pieces of
greater public awareness, as well as active legislations are Law No. 38/1967 on General
participation of the private sector. For Public Cleaning and Law No. 4/1994 for the
policy measures, EEAA would develop a Protection of the Environment, amended by
national MSWM policy, through a national Law 9/2009.
consultation process, including institutional,
technical and economic modules, national Law 38/1967 as amended by Law 31/1976
targets, and recommended options for the regulates the collection and disposal of
segregation, collection and disposal of MSW. solid waste from residential, commercial,
industrial and public areas. It imposes 2%
MSEA/EEAA issued the National Strategy of the rental value on all housing units as
for Integrated Municipal Solid Waste a cleanliness tax. The Law requires that a
Management in June 2000. The main polices license be issued by the local council for all
adopted in the strategy were: workers employed as waste collectors. Law
- The central government is the facilitator 31/1976 considers domestic and industrial
for implementing the strategy; waste as garbage and solid wastes. It also
- The governorates and municipalities specifies garbage containers, means of
roles are planning, monitoring and transportation and intervals of solid waste
control; collection. Ministry of Housing Decree
- Enhancing the principle of the private 134/1968 implementing Law 38/1967 governs
and public sectors and community the collection, transport and disposal of non-
participation in the different SWM hazardous solid waste.
stages in a cost-effective manner,
29. International Resources Group, Ltd. (2002), “Final Report Under Environmental Policy and Institutional Strengthening Indefinite Quantity Contract”, Egyptian
Environmental Policy Program, Program Support Unit, USAID,
NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR THE YEAR 2000
Pursued Target 5 years target 10 years target Current % of Gap: 10 Yr Target

[Performance Implementation
Indicator]
1) Min. Collection Coverage [Collection Efficiency]
- Large cities 90% 99% 75% 24%
- Capital of 80% 90% 65% 25%

Governorates
- Small provincial 70% 80% 50% 30%

towns
- Large villages 60% 70% 30 - 40% 35%
2) Sanitary landfill disposal [% Landfill vs. total disposed]
80% 90% 5% 85%
3) Recovery [% Recovery vs. total generated]
- Composting 50% -- 15% 35%
- Recycling 20% -- 5% 15%
4) Source separation (wet, dry & hazardous) [% SW separated at source]
40% 50% 1% 49%
5) Source reduction [% Reduction referred to normal growth]
-- 5% Zero% 100%
6) Cost Recovery]
100% -- 65% 35%
7) Funding
0.35% -- 0.10% 0.25%
Table 8 Analysis of SWM strategy

targets, relevant performance
indicators and gaps1
2 The Executive Regulations of Law 4/1994 of wastes in areas rather than those
were promulgated by the Prime Ministers specified out of residential, industrial
Decree 338/1995. Article 38 prohibits and agricultural areas and waterway;
burning, disposal or treatment of solid waste and
except in designated areas far away from - Presidential Decree No. 86/2010
housing or industrial or agricultural areas as regulating the closure of existing
well as from waterways. Article 39 requires dumping sites and the landfill at
that collectors of waste maintain their Greater Cairo and allocation of five
garbage bins and vehicles in a clean state. new sites outside the residential and
The garbage contents should be collected commercial belt of Greater Cairo.
and transported at suitable intervals
according to the conditions of each area. The meagre implementation and
The quantity of garbage should not exceed enforcement of legislations in a concerted
the capacity of any of these bins at any time. way is a major challenge facing the SWM
Moreover, Law 4/1994 also presents SW sector. Legal provisions are too broad and
disposal area specifications. general, or provide incomplete descriptions
of a legal act, condition, or standard, or
Other relevant laws and regulations provide incomplete coverage of the range of
narrated to SWM are: issues that the law was designed to address
- Law 106/1976 organising construction causing gaps in legislation 30. Legislative
works and construction and demolition gaps led to differing interpretations of the
debris (C&D); provisions of the law and therefore render
- Article 117 of Law 137/1981 for the enforcement tough.
occupational safety requiring employers
to inform their workers of the hazards Laws 38/1967 and 4/1994 include a number
associated with the non-compliance of disparities that ought to be removed by
with safety measures and that personal amending the relevant provisions in both
safety equipment, together with training laws and their implementing regulations.
on its use, should be provided to the Such amendments would help Governorates,
worker; towns and villages to effectively implement
- Law 48/1982 gives permitting authority SW collection, transfer and disposal
to the Ministry of Irrigation to protect activities.
the River Nile and other waterways
against pollution from solid waste; Legislations concerned with SWM are
- Presidential Decree 284/1983 fragmented, and several laws include some
establishing the Cairo and Giza clauses on rules/regulations regarding SWM.
Beautification and Cleansing These rules and regulations, however, are
Authorities; enforced by different agencies. There is often
- Law No.10/2005 establishing a solid duplication of responsibilities of the agencies
waste collection fees ; involved and gaps/missing elements in the
- Prime Minister Decree 1741/2005 regulatory provisions for the development of
amending the Executive Regulations of operative SWM. It should also be mentioned
Law 4/1994 and covering regulations for that legislation will never be effective
the selection of sites for recycling and unless enforced. Therefore, comprehensive
landfilling and equipment entailed for legislation that evades responsibilities
waste collection and transfer ; duplication fulfils gaps of important
- Article 37 (2) of Law. 9/2009 amending regulatory functions, as enforcement is a
Law 4/1994 prohibits open burning of requisite for sustainable development of the
garbage and solid waste as well as SWM.
placement, sorting, and treatment
30. Abt Associates Inc. and the Institute for Public -Private Partnerships (2001), “Contract Legal and Regulatory Framework - Solid Waste and Public Clean-Up
Project, Governorate of Alexandria, Egypt”, USAID
Institutional framework: Municipalities are responsible for
At the national level, the responsibility of implementation and monitoring of SWM,
SWM is still splited between the Ministry of operating existing composting plants and
State for Environment Affairs/EEAA, Ministry supervising final waste disposal, either
of Local Development, Ministry of Housing, directly or through contracting a private
Ministry of Health and Population, Ministry company.
of Irrigation and Water Resources, Ministry
of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Cleansing and Beautification Agencies
Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of in large cities such as Cairo and Giza
Finance and Ministry of Investment. Such fulfil SWM, training and human resource
fragmentation led to unclear institutional development, monitoring and inspection.
roles and responsibilities, duplication of Recently, similar agencies have been
efforts and lack of technical, organisational, established in Suez and Kafr El-Sheikh
institutional capacity and accountability. Governorates.
EEAA emanates the policy directives and Because of the low priority given to SWM
acts as a general facilitator. EEAA ensures sector, the institutional capacity of local
implementation of the provisions of government agencies involved is generally
environmental legislation and associated vulnerable, particularly at Marakez and small
regulations and decrees, and assists cities level. Local ordinance/by-laws on SWM
governorates in identifying sites for waste are also not well developed. These feeble
facilities. local government institutions were neither
provided with clear mandates nor sufficient
At the local level, the Governorates, resources to fulfil the mandates.
municipalities, or cleansing and
beautification agencies in large cities are In 2009, The Egyptian Government
responsible of handling the implementation established an Inter-Ministerial Committee
and operation of SWM directly or through (IMC), comprising representatives from
contracted international/local private key Ministries playing a role in the SWM
companies, NGOs and informal sector sector. Since its establishment, the IMC’s
“zabaleen”. Governorates are also consultative process has been supported by
responsible for setting regional strategies the German Government (through KfW and
and planning, contracting, supervision and GIZ) and the European Union (EU) . In 2010
operation monitoring of private sector; a study was launched to support the IMC by
enforcement of laws and regulations; training analysing the sector framework, identifying
and public awareness. Few Governorates and evaluating institutional reform options,
have a specialized unit for planning and determining the preferred institutional
managing SWM services. Generally, the arrangements, preparing the NSWMP and
Environmental Management Units (EMUs) necessary documentation to establish an
participate in planning and supervision of investment and technical assistance (TA)
SWM services. programme from the German Government
and EU.
2 2.1.4 Strategy and action plans intended to make a significant contribution
to the sustainable protection of environment
On September, 2013, a decision was made and natural resources, to climate change
to establish a new “Integrated Solid Waste adaptation and mitigation and to the
Management Sector (ISWMS)”, under the reduction of health risks for the population of
MSEA. The new national sector is intended Egypt. Implementation of an enhanced SWM
to take charge of the SWM sector in Egypt at the national and in particular regional
and to implement the National Solid Waste and local levels will provide an opportunity
Management Programme (NSWMP). The to improve the living conditions of Egyptian
programme will be jointly supported by the citizens via the creation of employment as
EU and the German Cooperation, KfW and well as upgraded environmental conditions.
GIZ are the implementers of the programme
together with the Egyptian side. The projected results of the NSWMP are33:
- Establishing WM policy supported
The NSWMP was established to support by framework legislation and
the setup of new and effective policy, implementing regulations for
legislation and institutional arrangements precedence waste streams, and a
for WM at the National and Governorate developed institutional structure
levels in Egypt, coupled with enhanced governing the waste management
professional capacity, and an investment sector at the national and local level;
pipeline for implementation of sect oral - Establishing investment pipeline,
projects at both regional and local level32. with implementation of WM concepts
The programme will be charged with the in four Governorates designed and
responsibility of developing policy and implemented with multi-stakeholder
legislation, guiding the passage of this participation;
legislation through Parliament, promoting - Enhancing professional capacity to
and managing investment from Government direct, manage and implement policy,
and international development partners, and legislation, strategy, programs, projects
strengthening the capacity of Governorates to and services;
prepare and implement bankable investment - Setting up SWM plans at the national
projects. This national entity will be a national and local levels, with measures
centre of expertise in policy, legislation, designed and implemented to increase
strategy, technology and financing of WM. service coverage and performance; and
- Involving civil society in the elaboration
The NSWMP will contribute in reforming of policies and plans coupled with
the SWM sector of Egypt and to implement recognition of waste management &
the related infrastructure step by step. It is recycling as a profession.
31. Environmental Resource Management and EcoConServ Environmental Solutions (December 2011), “National Solid Waste Management Programme Egypt,
Final Report”, MoLD/EEAA/KfW/GIZ
2.1.5 Finance and cost recovery
Disposal and treatment seems to display
SWM consumes substantial financial greater economies of scale associated
resources, accounting for an important with WM facilities. This suggests that
share of municipal expenditure across Egypt. collection services are best delivered on
Meanwhile, cost recovery levels are still very a decentralised basis, whereas it might
low. The main aftermath of the financial be more cost-effective for treatment and
constraints is the shortage of coverage of disposal facilities to be consolidated at a
the collection system that primarily touches regional level.
poorer sectors of the population. In principle,
cost recovery could be enhanced in several The adequate financing of MSWM in Egypt is
ways. Although poor households might not one of the most critical elements hindering
be willing to pay the full cost of basic waste the development and sustainability of a
collection and disposal services - in contrast proper and efficient system. A wide gap
to services such as drinking water – there is between the available/ allocated funding
scope for improvement in the generation of and the actual requirements exists and
revenues to finance expanded services. is expected to increase due to increasing
population, urbanisation, waste generations,
In Egypt, MSWM displays three and the heavy burden on the national budget
characteristics: that might reprioritise the justifiable WM
i) Intensive labour, partially because they financial requests.
are relatively cheap and partly due to
over-hiring for political reasons; Public authorities are finding it difficult to
ii) Recycling is wide spread. Labour raise the necessary finance to meet the
intensive collection and processing required costs. Often they are compelled to
of recyclable materials are initiated concentrate on urgent needs – collection – to
throughout the country. The zabaleen, the detriment of processing, the result being
for example, provide collection services that they incur high costs while achieving
in exchange for the opportunity to extract poor performances. Under these contexts
recyclable materials for resale. Moreover, sustainable waste management seems
scavengers pick out the waste from the difficult to envisage.
bins, collection points and dumpsites and
sell the recyclable materials; and The Egyptian central Government does
iii) MSWM is often inefficient. not have specific financial allocations for
MSWM and when transfers are made to local
Economic and industrial development Governorates, they are usually insufficient.
plays key roles in SWM. Obviously, an The local governments are obliged to avail
enhanced economy empowers more funds some funding for waste management;
to be allocated for SWM, providing a more however, this is also insufficient. All
sustainable financial basis. However, the officials interviewed, in the selected
by definition, developing countries have Governorates, were complaining from the
ineffectual economic bases and, hence, insufficient financial allocations directed
deficient funds for sustainable development to SWM from the Central Government, in
of SWM. addition to their deprived resources.
There are restricted economics of scale The current revenue directed to MSWM
available in SW collection. Although comes from a tax on the electricity bill
urbanisation intensifies the concentration together with modest payments to service
per square meter of MSW, which might lower providers. In most of the visited cities in
the average cost of collection, it also tends to the selected Governorates, the fees are
increase the cost of MSWM because low- collected through electricity bills. Some
income urban areas are often characterizes exceptions were witnessed in Assiut and
with narrow or congested streets that could Fayoum Governorates. Service fee collectors
not support large collection trucks 32. go door to door to gather the fees in Fayoum
32. Stefano Pagiola, Roberto Martin-Hurtado, Priya Shyamsundar, Muthukumara Mani, Patricia Silva, December 2002 , “Generating Public Sector Resources to
Finance Sustainable Development: Revenue and Incentive Effects”, The World Bank
2 Governorate’s cities. On the other hand, in Governorates is sizeable and could not be
rural areas, this system is generally not explained by population differences alone.
applied. In some villages, NGOs collect fees iv) The figures indicate that break-even is
and conduct SW collection services. almost reached in Kalyobiya Governorate
while the gap between the revenues and
Furthermore, full cost accounting (FCA) is expenses in Fayoum is considerable.
a tool that could help local governments
to precisely and consistently assess the Due to the evident anomaly and lack of
full costs of managing MSW 33. Local data, the calculated cost of solid waste
governments could use these data to reveal services is not accurate and thus could not
the costs of MSWM, discuss those costs be used for estimating the service or even
with their citizens, and identify potential cost setting appropriate rates and user charges.
savings. Further, FCA data could be used to Substantial effort is essential to accurately
help establish rates and user fees that are and systematically calculate the costs and
sufficient to recover the full costs of the MSW revenues of MSW services. This highlights
services provided. the weight of establishing an entity that
collects and accounts for MSW data using
In order to precisely calculate the full cost FCA in each Governorate.
of MSW services and programmes, the local
government must identify all the direct and Local industry that produces relatively
indirect costs coupled with providing MSW inexpensive SW equipment’s and vehicles
services. Habitually, direct costs include will reduce, or in some cases could eliminate
wages and benefits; general operations totally, the need for importing expensive
and maintenance; depreciation of assets; foreign equipment/vehicles and therefore
and amortisation of future outlays. On the foreign exchange. Such local industry could
other hand, indirect costs represent the also supply associated spare parts, lack
costs of essential services provided to the of which is often responsible for irregular
MSW program by other departments or and insufficient SW collection and disposal
agencies of the local government, as well as services. However, the lack of industry
costs incurred by other government entities manufacturing SW equipment’s and spare
for general administration and executive parts and a limited foreign exchange for
oversight. Non-fee revenues, such as interest importing such equipment/spare parts are
income and sales of recyclables, are then the rule rather than exception. Moreover,
subtracted from the total costs to calculate most of the locally manufactured compost
the net cost of the MSW services. plants face problems in their operation and
maintenance. Citizens in most Governorates
Upon our request from the officials in the have lost confidence in witnessing a
selected Governorates, only Fayoum and substantial improvement on the short term
Kalyobiya Governorates provided us with and accordingly, their engagement and
incomplete MSW revenues and expenses participation in building a civilised SWM
data (cf. Table 9). have eroded which compounded the existing
challenge and led to higher and prompt
From Table 9 we might observe the following: financial demands necessary for fast actions.
i) Kalyobiya Governorate officials didn’t
provide any data covering general The government’s desire to attract
operations and maintenance or investments in SWM projects, whether in
depreciation of assets. On the other hand, actual operations or treatment projects, is
Fayoum Governorate provided these confronted with conspicuous reluctance
figures for some Marakez only. due to many uncertainties where financial
ii) Kalyobiya Governorate officials didn’t concerns come as a main issue.
provide any data on Governmental and
Governorate allocations.
iii) The difference between the provided
figures of fees for services in both Table 9 Annual expenses and revenues
of MSWM in some of the selected
Governorates in 2012
33. US EPA (September, 1997), “Full Cost Accounting for Municipal Solid Waste Management: A Handbook”; and Tetra Tech EM Inc. (1997), “Municipal Solid
Waste Management Full Cost Accounting Workbook for Local Governments in Florida”, Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
Markez Expenses (L.E.) Revenue (L.E.)
Total Annual Operation and New equipment Annual Waste collection Fees for Governmental Governorate
Wages Maintenance and trucks Depreciation containers and service allocations allocations
and Benefits Expense establishing
new sites/
facilities
Fayoum Governorate
Fayoum 3,326,144 620,190 3,050,000 NA 350,000 699,332 350,000 425,000
Ebshway 1,440,000 500,000 1,000,000 250,000 300,000 85,000 NA NA
Yousef El- 150,000 150,000 400,000 150,000 200,000 35,000 NA 120,000
Sedeek
Tamia 394,265 240,020 NA 20,000 123,432 NA NA
Atsa NA 88,000 670,000 NA NA 48,000 NA NA
Senuris 6,012,000 4,002,000 NA NA 190,000 242,000 NA NA
Total 11,322,409 5,600,210 5,120,000 400,000 1,060,000 1,232,764 350,000 545,000
Total Expenses for the Governorate = 23,502,619 L.E Total Revenue = 2,127,764 L.E.
Kalyobiya Governorate
Banha NA NA 3,000,000 NA NA
Khanka NA NA 480,000 NA NA
Khosoos NA NA 7,560,000 NA NA
Kaha NA NA 252,000 NA NA
Kalyub NA NA 1,045,364 NA NA
Shibin Al- NA NA 721,704 NA NA
Kanater
Shubra El- NA NA 1,404,000 NA NA
Kheima
Tukh NA NA 652,836 NA NA
Al-Kanater Al- NA NA 1,010,328 NA NA
Khairia
Kafr Shukr NA NA 306,360 NA NA
Total 1,741,899 NA 30,000,000 NA 1,000,000 31,622,016 NA NA
Total Expenses for the Governorate = 32,741,899 L.E. Total Revenue = 31,622,016 L.E.
02 The National Solid Waste Management Sector — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013
37
2
No. Company Service Area Annual Value

(Million LE)
1 AMA Arab Environment Co Northern Zone 132.3
2 AMA Arab Environment Co Western Zone 124
3 FCC Eastern Zone 118.1
4 Misr Service El-Marg 14.8
5 Europa 2000 Maadi and Helwan 53.3
6 Ertecaa Manshiyat Nasser 5.8
7 ECARO Recycling and disposal 20
8 EcoConServ Medical waste management 7.4
9 Contractors 0.9
Total 476.6
Table 10 Annual contract values of SWM companies

serving Cairo Governorate19
Table 10 shows private sector participation in

SWM activities in Cairo governorate. The estimated required financial allocations
to execute the proposed programme are
According to official information19, the 3,270.4 million LE, as given in Table 11. The
cost for collection, transport and disposal shown requirements are estimates and
could reach 215 LE per ton and accordingly could reach much higher values when other
the private contracts might be subject to elements are considered such as labour and
adjustments if the provided services are management financial requests, upgrading
destined for improvement and sustainability. of existing composting facilities (a disputed
issue) and others such as capacity building,
In July 2012, the Central Department of public awareness..etc. As of April 2013, no
Waste Management in EEAA, proposed an budget was allocated by the authorities for
executive program to improve the MSW this programme.
services in Egypt, based on:
- Removal of accumulated SW;
- Improving the efficiency of collection
and transport of SW to prevent further
accumulations;
- Establishing mobile and stationary
transfer stations;
- Improving the efficiency of controlled
dumpsites;
- Establishing waste recycling centres; Table 11 EEAA required financial
and allocations to improve the MSW
- Establishing sanitary landfills. services19
2.1.6 Private sector participation considered an effective and convenient waste
collection system managed by the informal
The private sector engagement in MSWM sector or the “zabaleen”. Those collectors
confronted several challenges and were assigned by major informal operators to
contractual disputes rendering a less than collect the household, commercial and to a
satisfactory performance and a reduced lower extent, industrial wastes. The monthly
capability to provide a tangible improved collection fees were somewhat reasonable
service. and the collection service was adequate.
However, the rest of the SWM activities were
Traditionally, and for an extended period left to the operators to decide on the disposal
over the last years up to the early nineties, and recycling methodologies.
the Egyptian population relied on what was
Governorate Cost (Million LE) Total

(Million
Remove Improving Estab- Estab- Improving Estab- LE)
Accumula- collection lishing lishing controlled lishing
tion / transport mobile and recycling dumpsites sanitary
efficiency stationary centres landfills
transfer
stations
Cairo - 13 193 30 40 30 306
Giza - 30 96 10 10 30 196
Alexandria 10.3 17 46 5 - - 78.3
Kalyobiya 19.5 73.5 10 10 30 143
Dakahliya 112 56.5 124 10 - 30 332.5
Al Gharbiya 30 31.5 64 10 - 30 165.5
Monofiya 5.6 30 70 10 - 30 148.6
Al-Beheira 12 47 97 10 - 40 206
Kafr El-Sheikh 4.5 27 70 10 - 30 141.5
Sharqia 10 48.5 70 10 - 30 168.5
Damietta 3 26 40 10 - 15 94
Ismailia 7 17.5 27 5 - 15 71.5
Port Said 6 7 14.5 10 5 - 42.5
Suez 3.5 7.5 14.5 5 5 - 35.5
Fayoum 4.5 20 34 5 - 30 94
Bani Souwaif 2.25 22 47 5 - 30 106.25
Menia 10 28.5 60 10 - 30 138.5
Assiut 3.75 28.5 60 5 - 30 127.25
Sohag 4.5 35 73 10 - 30 152.5
Qena 4.5 30.5 43 10 - 30 118
Aswan 6 17 33.5 5 - 15 76.5
Luxor 2 2 15 5 - 15 39
Red Sea 7.5 14 20 5 - 15 61.5
Matruh - 26 29 5 - 15 75
North Sinai - 31 16 5 - 15 67
South Sinai 7.5 15 21 5 - 30 78.5
New Valley - 15 2 - - 15 32
TOTAL 256.4 666 1453 215 70 610 3270.4
2
Several MSW informal communities - Major traffic and transportation
developed and rooted within the society problems within the region;
employing a significant number of informal - Lack of coherent institutional
labour spread all over the waste activities. framework to manage the region;
- Weak of connectivity between
The increased population and rapid existing built-up area and new urban
urbanisation in greater Governorates such as communities. and
Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, and Kalyobiya have - The economic competitiveness of the
built noticeable and accumulated burdens region
on the waste activities’ system that led to
negative mis-management signs, by the The general population, as well as the
limited capability informal sector and the official entities, were obliged to look for
weak public system, to became obvious and workable options to assist and share in the
bothersome. mitigation of what became a chronic SWM
problem. Figure 12, illustrates the degree
Elkouedi and Madbouly in their report of satisfaction of citizens with regards to
“Tackling the Shelter Challenge of Cities” provided public services35.
stated that the rapid expansion of the built-up
area within the Greater Cairo Region reached
up to 270%, as shown in Figures 10 & 11 34 .
This exponential growth of waste calls for a

change in practices. ISWM means reducing
the volume of waste at source, improving
sorting, and increasing recycling and waste
recovery in the form of compost or energy.
However, developing the waste sector
entails investment and competencies that
the public sector is not always in a position
to provide. Local authorities are therefore
turning to the private sector, hoping to
benefit from its know-how and competitive
prices. Private entities are mainly involved in
waste collection, but also in recycling. The
treatment of waste and derived products
offers new economic opportunities for the
private sector.
It is worthy to note the observations of the

Ministry of Housing, the general planning
authority that concise the general challenges
of the rapid urbanisation as it alters the SWM
activities in major urban areas (Figure 12)35.
Their described challenges cover:
- The unplanned growth of the built-up
area;
- The excessive pressure on Above: Figure 10 The development of urban built-up
infrastructure; area of Greater Cairo Region35
- Environmental degradation and high
Down: Figure 11 Extent of informal settlements in
rates of pollution. Greater Cairo Region35
34. H. Elkouedi and M. Madbouly (2007), “Tackling the Shelter Challenge of Cities: Thinking it Through Together – Cairo, Egypt”, General Organisation of Physical
Planning, Ministry of Housing Utilities and Urban Development, World Bank
EEAA with the assistance of some donors,
started boarding the engagement the private
sector WM operators beginning with the
two major Governorates, i.e., Alexandria
and Greater Cairo. Draft contracts were
prepared, tenders were issued, and actual
private operations were implemented with an
almost integrated approach.
Tables 12 A & B show the executive stance
of SWM projects and public cleaning in the
Governorates, based on EEAA State of the
Environment Report of 2004, issued Might
2005 . Since the issue of that report, several
modifications occurred where some of the
private operators terminated their contracts
or are on the process of termination. Figure 12 Citizens satisfaction by selected services35
Governorate Executive Stance from Privatisation in 200436 Current Situation

Aswan Care Service Company, a Spanish Company and Local councils in the cities
Dalta Company
Giza Southern area: Al Giza Company for Al Haram district: Enviro Master Co.
Environmental Services (FCC Spanish
Company)
Northern area: The International Company Northern area, Dokki and Agouza districts:
for Environmental Services (Jackros Italian International Environmental Services
Company)
Giza Cleanliness and Beautification Authority Other areas and districts: Giza Cleanliness and
Beautification Authority
Qena The project is self implemented in Qena city and SWM activities is implemented by the
other governorate cities and youth graduates Governorate and local councils
are being employed
Luxor Amoun Cleanliness and Beautification General administration of cleanliness and
beautification in Luxor city
New Vally The project is self implemented and youth General administration of cleanliness and
graduates are being employed beautification in the cities
Fayoum SWIM Process not privatized General councils in the cities
Assiut SWIM Process not privatized SWM activities is implemented by the general
councils in the cities, except for East Assiut
district
Red Sea SWIM Process not privatized HEPCA company covers the area from Port
Ghalib to Beranice; Ras Gharib city: Egyptian
environmental services Co.; Safaga and Koser
cities: El-Noor cleansing Co.; and Shalateen:
Association for the protection of the Red Sea
Beni Suef SWIM Process not privatized General councils in the cities
Sohag SWIM Process not privatized General councils in the cities
Table 12A The executive stance of SWM

projects and public cleaning in upper
Egypt Governorates
35. EEAA (2005), “Egypt State of the Environment Report 2004 – Annex 3”, MSEA (http://www.eeaa.gov.eg/english/info/report_soe2005.asp)
2
Governorate Executive Stance from Privatisation in 200436 Current Situation19
Alexandria Onyx French Company Veolia terminated the contract in Oct. 2011.
Arab Contractors Co. is currently contracted
North Sinai Hilo Care Company of Al Areesh region Al Areesh region: Care Service Co.; other cities
in the Governorate: General administration of
cleanliness and beautification of the cities
Suez Kuwaiti Tanzifco The Governorate terminated the contract
in March 31, 2012 and established Suez
Cleanliness and Beautification Unit
Port Said Misr Service Company General administration of cleanliness and
beautification of the city
Cairo Northern area: Om Al Arab and the Arab Northern area: AMA Arab Environment Co
Contractors companies
Western area: Europe Seir Spanish Company Western area: AMA Arab Environment Co
Eastern area: FCC Spanish Company Eastern area: FCC Spanish Company
Misr Service Company General administration of cleanliness and
beautification of the city
Southern area: Europe 2000 and Al Fostat The Governorate terminated the contract
companies in March 31, 2012 and established Suez
Cleanliness and Beautification Unit
Sayeda Zeinab, Misr El Kadima, Khalipha, General administration of cleanliness and
Mokattam, Dar el Salaam, El Basateen beautification of the city
districts: Al Fostat CO.
Maadi and Torra: Europa 2000; El-Marg:
Misr Service; 15th Might: ECARU; Helwan, El
Maasara and El Tebeen: Arab Contractors Co.;
Manshiyat Nasser: Ertecaa
Northern area: The International Company Northern area, Dokki and Agouza districts:
for Environmental Services (Jackros Italian International Environmental Services
Company)
Al Gharbia Cairo Service Company in Tanta city and Al SWM activities is implemented by a Cleanliness
Nagar service Company in Mahla and Beautification Unit
Damietta Hilo Care Service Company in Tanta and Ras General councils in the cities
El Bar cities (It works in Ras El Bar during
summer)
Dakahliya SWIM Process not privatized The Ministry of Local Development contracted
ECARU Co. and Retsi Land Co. as of 7/1/2013
Sharkiya SWIM Process not privatized General councils in the cities
Kafr Al Sheikh SWIM Process not privatized Kafr Al Sheikh Cleanliness and Beautification
Unit established in 2012
Menoufia SWIM Process not privatized General councils in the cities
South Sinai SWIM Process not privatized Sharm El Sheikh city: Sharm Environmental
Services Co.; Dahab and Nuweiba cities:
Hemaia NGO; other cities: general councils
Ismailiya SWIM Process not privatized General councils in the cities
Matrouh SWIM Process not privatized General councils in the cities
Kalyobiya SWIM Process not privatized SWM activities is implemented by the
Governorate, except Shubra El-Kheima Markez
that uses private contractors
Al Behira SWIM Process not privatized General councils in the cities
Box 7 Formalisation of the traditional garbage collectors
While waste management is a serious problem
for many rapidly growing megacities in developing In order to adapt to the present situation, the
countries, inhab¬itants in Cairo used to benefit from following initiatives were taken to upgrade the level
a comparatively well-functioning waste removal of knowledge and skills of the traditional garbage
system4. The zabaleen – traditional garbage collectors and integrate them in the MSW sector in a
collectors – have been providing door-to-door formalised manner37:
household waste collection for the past six decades. • Forty four companies have been already formed
They consider household waste as an important by the new generation of the traditional garbage
economic resource. collectors and six companies are in the process of
In the 1980s several NGOs started their work with setting up.
the traditional garbage collectors, striving to improve • Training programs covering legal, administrative,
their living conditions and professionalise work. They and financial issues were conducted for the
helped them to diversify their income generating companies’ staff.
activities by setting up small recy¬cling workshops. • Twenty Five plastic workshops, located in two
This enabled the zabbaleen to achieve high recycling different settlements of traditional garbage
quotas. collectors, have been upgraded in terms of health
To reform the sector, Cairo city administration and industrial safety standards to meet the
commissioned several multinationals to take over requirements of the governmental authorities.
the MSWM services in 2003. This decision deprived • A new syndicate has been set up.
the traditional garbage collectors of their previous • The “Recycling School” project, established
entitlement to the waste, their main source of in 2002, still operates and is financially and
income. Although the traditional garbage collectors technically sustainable. The project received the
have utilised creative and flexible strategies to adapt Schwab Award in 2006 and other national and
to the new situation, their degree of vulnerability international recognition.
has increased considerably. In addition, the reform • A pilot e-waste initiative was initialed in Mokattam
also failed to achieve the aim of an ecologically, to provide employment for female waste
economically, and socially sustainable waste workers, generate income, and preserve the local
management. environment.
Since the first inception and implementation Given the described facts, the current scene
of private sector participation in MSWM, the of MSWM in Egypt is turbulent. Public
overall experience and results were less services are inefficient and financially
than enough. The reasons are varied and constrained, private sector activities are
controversial, and government interventions suffering from contractual and financial
were again dominant while lacking the basic constraints, the informal sector has
technical, institutional and financial means narrowed their engagement to what they
to face and manage the massive waste believe a profitable engagement (recycling),
management problem. WM operations such as composting are
failing in their majority, and the official
The consequence of these capacity confines capability of attracting serious investments in
at the institutional level is that the contracts MSWM is non-exiting.
fulfilled between Governorates and private Several studies were conducted on PSP
enterprises were of poor quality. Some of the in MSWM, and the most recent was the
primary issues of concern are the unclear world bank-funded study “Private Sector
definition of roles and responsibilities Participation in the Municipal Solid Waste
and inadequate risk mitigative measures. Management Sector in Egypt” in late 2010,
Another issue is the shift to contract for more have sufficiently designated the major
services than for which the Governorates aspects and engagements (or the lack-of) in
are able to pay. Once the services have been the national effort22.
Table 12B The billed, the Governorates would delay payment
executive stance or try to lower the billed amounts by querying
of SWM projects
and public cleaning the service provided.
in the northern
Governorates
2 i) MSWM stakeholders’ a healthy public-private business
identification and relationship;
engagements: - Lack of official capability to articulate,
monitor and implement a fair and
Comprehensive identification of engaged workable public-private SWM contracts;
stakeholders in MSWM is fundamental and - Lack of financial resources and
vital for the proper development of efficient mechanisms to support PSP in MSWM;
and workable solutions. The stakeholders - Absence of some legislative measures
analysis and targeted consultations are indispensable for developing and
cornerstones for attaining a common enforcing the proper MSWM culture;
understanding and planning of MSWM - Lack of a clear priority of MSWM
activities with PSP at the heart of the effort. activities’ planning and implementation;
- Lack of policy framework for solid
The current (and targeted) MSWM waste management;
stakeholders include: - Absence of a unified entity for solid
- Ministry of State for Environmental waste management at the central level;
affairs (and the EEAA); - Controversial public financial
- Ministry of Local Development; allocations for MSWM projects;
- Ministry of Health; - Incapability of designing and
- Ministry of finance (national budget and implementing a healthy and fair formal-
PPP centre); informal relationship;
- Ministry of Military Production (local - Lack of clear official financial
recycling equipment manufacturer); commitment to support MSWM
- Governorates; integrated activities;
- Cleansing and Beautification - Lack of collaboration and coordination
Authorities; within public entities conducive of
- Contracted Private SWM Operators establishing the sustainable MSWM;
(local and international), municipal - Lack of accurate national data /
waste and healthcare waste; information / statistics on MSW
- Private MSWM composting operators; supportive of informed private sector
- Informal Sector (Recyclers); engagement and proper MSWM
- NGOs; projects’ development;
- International Development - Lack of public confidence and
Organisations (Donors); and willingness to support MSWM services;
- Financial Institutions. - Access to finance, especially for SMEs,
persists an impediment to private
Each of the mentioned stakeholders should sector development;
have a well-defined role and responsibility - Reluctance of the Egyptian financial
for the setup and organisation of an efficient institutions to secure meaningful
MSWM. Identifying and sketching specific MSWM activities; and
duties for each stakeholder, coordination - Lack of Donors’ dialogue to harmonise
of these duties, establishing the supporting their support of the SWM effort in Egypt
legislative measures, allocating the financial
resources, building the capable institutional iii) Socio-Economic and Political
structure, and assigning a ‘coordinating Situation:
authority’ are some of the urgent tasks
needed for efficient system management. With regard to existing challenges tackling
the MSWM endeavour in general and PSP
ii) Current obstacles to PSP in in particular, the current political situation
MSWM21, 36, 37 and its impact on the socio-economic scene
have a significant backing in exacerbating the
- Lack of a national consensus on a faced challenges that necessitates special
MSWM strategy and action plan; highlighting.
- Lack of official capability to manage
36. GTZ (2005), “Private Sector Involvement in Solid Waste Management – Avoiding Problems and Building on Successes”
37. Document of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, “Egypt: Country Assessment”, as approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting of
31 October 2012
2.1.7 Environmental and social Improper MSW disposal and management
aspects initiates all types of pollution: air, soil and
water. Indiscriminate dumping of wastes
SWM is becoming a major environmental contaminates surface and ground water
and public health anxiety in Egypt. The public supplies38 . Uncontrolled burning of MSW
sector is impotent to deliver SWM services contributes appreciably to urban air
effectively, the private sector participation pollution. Greenhouse gases are generated
is constrained and dumping of waste is a from the decomposition of organic wastes
common practice. Limited funds are provided in dumpsites and landfills, and untreated
to the sector by the Government and the leachate pollutes surrounding soil and water
levels of services required are not always ecosystems. Insect and rodent vectors are
attained. attracted to the waste and could spread
diseases (Photos 9 & 10).
Above: Photo 9 Self burning of MSW at Samanoud

dumpsite plateau, Al Gharbya Governorate
Down: Photo 10 Household waste dumped on a bridge
in Tanta city
38. Pervez Alam and Kafeel Ahmade (2013), “Impact of Solid Waste on Health and the Environment”, International Journal of Sustainable Development and
Green Economics (IJSDGE), V-2, I-1, 2
2 Waste worker and pickers are not often responsive framework for MSWM:
protected from direct contact and injury. i) Waste minimisation;
The co-disposal of hazardous and medical ii) Maximising environmentally sound waste
wastes with MSW presents serious health reuse and recycling;
threat. Exhaust fumes from waste collection iii) Promoting environmentally sound waste
vehicles, dust stemming from disposal disposal and treatment; and
practices and the open burning of waste iv) Extending waste service coverage.
also weigh in health problems. People
know that poor sanitation disturbs their Public awareness and community
health, especially in developing and low- participation are well-thought-out as a
income countries, where the people are prerequisite factor for establishing an
the most willing to pay for environmental effective SWM. The majority of the public lack
improvements39. for environmental ethics and awareness on
the proper disposal of SW and the dangers
Most adverse environmental impacts from that stem from disposal in open dumpsites.
SWM are rooted in inadequate or incomplete
collection and recovery of recyclable or The social settings had progressively given
reusable items, as well as co-disposal of higher priority in waste management. Waste
hazardous wastes40. These impacts are management programmes increasingly
also due to inappropriate sitting, design, invest in communication, education,
operation, or maintenance of dumpsites and customer relations and equity issues. It
landfills. has been established that further success
of waste management to a great extent is
Improper waste management activities directed by public participation depending
could increase disease transmission and largely on several social issues. To attain
threatens public health, contaminate ground higher participation, public acceptability is
and surface water, create greenhouse gas entailed and fundamentally realised through
emissions and other air pollutants, damage further communication between waste
ecosystems, injure people and property and management and the public.
discourages tourism and other business.
Social aspects could not be separated
Environmentally sound WM must go beyond
the mere safe disposal or recovery of wastes
that are generated and seek to address the
root cause of the problem by attempting
to change unsustainable patterns of
production and consumption41. This implies
the application of the integrated life cycle
management concept that portrays a unique
opportunity to reconcile development with
environmental protection. Accordingly, the
framework for requisite action should be
founded on a hierarchy of objectives and
focused on the four major waste-related
programme areas which are interrelated
and mutually supportive. The framework
must therefore be integrated in order to
be a comprehensive and environmentally
Photo 11 Waste pickers at a MSW collection point in
Fayoum city
39. S. Goorah, M. Esmyot, and R. Boojhawon (2009), “The Health Impact of Nonhazardous Solid Waste Disposal in a Community”, Journal of Environment Health,
72(1), 48-54
40. “Environmental Guidelines for Small-Scale Activities in Africa (EGSSAA), Chapter 15: Solid Waste: Generation, Handling, Treatment and Disposal”, (IRG)
under USAID Africa Bureau’s Environmental Compliance and Management Support (ENCAP) Program, January 2005
41. The Rio Earth Summit, Agenda 21 (1992), “Chapter2 1: Environmentally Sound Management of Solid Waste and Sewage-Related Issues “, United Nations
Sustainable Development (http://www.regency.org/earth_summit_92/chapter21.pdf)
from the overall SWM. Public awareness projects with inactive communities usually
and public participation are major steps did not provide people in the community
in effective implementation of the SWM. with economic as well as social incentives to
Therefore, environmental education from participate in activities. The social incentive is
schools is indispensable to develop the based on the responsibility of individuals as
awareness at the general public level. part of the community for the improvement
of the community, and is shaped by
One important aspect of the social public awareness and school education
sustainability is the fairness factor. The social programmes. The lack of public awareness
equity is related to the issue of payment and school education about the weight of
for the waste management service and the proper solid waste management for health
overall fairness of the payment system. It and well-being of citizens severely confines
is commonly agreed upon in most waste the use of community-based approaches.
management programmes that variable
rates are fairer and provides a better At street refuse bins, collection points,
incentive for waste reduction as the public transfer stations and dumpsites, waste
will be charged on the basis of the quantity of picking activities are common scenes in
waste they discard. Egypt (Photos 11 & 12). People involved have
not received school education and vocational
Social equity is an important aspect of waste training to gain knowledge and skills required
management that indirectly impact, in a for other jobs. They are also confronted by
larger context, the behavioural approaches limited employment opportunities available
and management of other organisations in the formal sector. The existence of waste
and businesses in the community. On the pickers often conceives an obstacle to the
micro level, the waste management level, operation of solid waste collection and
the fairness discussion could be seen as disposal services. However, if organised
fundamental for the system. As a service it properly, their activities might be effectively
should be provided to everyone and be open incorporated into a waste recycling system.
for everyone, also in terms of feedback and Such an opportunistic approach is required
information provided. for sustainable development of SWM
programmes.
Because of insufficient resources available
in the Government sector, collaborative
projects often have been attempted to
mobilise community resources and develop
community self-help activities. Results were
a mixture of successes and failures. Failed
Photo 12 Waste pickers at Abu Zaabal dumpsite
2
2.2 Industrial and Hazardous Waste
Management
2.2.1 Generation, treatment and as part of the MSW collection program. Small
disposal generators whose waste would be collected
under the industrial or MSW collection
In 2011 the industrial sector represented program must be made to conform to the
37.6% of Egypt’s GDP and the number collection requirements intrinsic to either
of industrial enterprises is estimated program.
at about 64,997. The industrial sector
impacts environmental degradation in In the two major industrial city areas, Cairo
Egypt to a substantial extent. According and Alexandria, the quantity of industrial
to EEAA estimates, the generated hazardous waste generated is roughly
industrial waste in 2001, 2006 and 2012 estimated at 60,000 tonnes/year42, 28,000 of
were 4,250,000; 4,750,000 and 6,000,000 which in Alexandria. There are approximately
tonnes, respectively17-19. However, there eight industrial areas in Egypt generating
is disagreement in connection with these different types and quantities of hazardous
estimated figures, as the MoLD estimates wastes. It is estimated that up to a total of
generated industrial waste is only 2,906,895 200,000 tonnes/year of hazardous waste
tonnes in 201016. are generated from these eight areas.
Therefore, the estimated generated industrial
For industrial non-hazardous waste hazardous waste is about 260,000 tonnes,
collection, the service area might include in 2009. Another estimated figure for the
industrial waste generators of all sizes and generated industrial hazardous waste
types. A strategic decision is what level of reached 300,000 – 500,000 tonnes, in 201143.
industrial waste collection service will be This broad range validates the general lack
provided by the contractor. Depending on the of information available on the actual amount
quantity and physical characteristics of the of industrial hazardous waste generated in
industrial solid waste from small generators, Egypt.
a combined waste stream might be collected
Box 8 The Egyptian National Cleaner Production Centre (ENCPC)46

ENCPC was established in 2005 by MTI in cooperation of generated waste in terms of quantity and
with UNIDO as a service provider for the Egyptian characteristics and identification of the best options
industry. ENCPC provides technical assistance for waste handling and management. This adds
for technology transfer in the fields of resource value to the industry and forms further economic
efficiency, industrial waste valorisation and opportunities from newly developed products based
renewable energy applications. on the sustainable use of the generated waste from
the different production process. Reuse and recycling
ENCPC services encompass implementation of of industrial waste save costs and originates both
waste management systems and recycling initiatives economic and environmental opportunities.
in industries. The services include assessment
42. Enviro Associates International, Inc. (2009), “Feasibility Study for Hazardous Waste Management in Egypt”, U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA)/
MSEA
43. Adel El-Shafei, “Hazardous Waste Management in Egypt – Current State of Play and Opportunities for Information Sharing”, Shared Environmental
Information System “(ENPI-SEIS) Project” Workshop, 3-4 Might 2011, Cairo House, EEAA/CAPMAS/CEDARE/European Environment Agency
A pilot environmentally sound and wasted fluorescent lamps was established
sustainable hazardous waste management in 2011, at the NHWTC. The facility includes
system was founded in June 2005, as a joint units for separation of mercury, glass,
effort between EEAA, Alexandria Governorate metal and other lamp components. Mercury
and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of bearing powder is heated up in a distiller to
Finland, in Nasiriya, Alexandria. The system recover the mercury and the remaining waste
was established for prevention, minimisation, is recycled. Moreover, two small incinerators
storing, collection, transportation, recycling, were recently installed in NHWTC and used
treatment and disposal of significant groups for disposal of solid organic hazardous
of hazardous - industrial waste, both organic wastes (primarily pharmaceutical wastes).
and inorganic. Each incinerator is fitted out with a two-stage
combustion system, including an afterburner,
The Nasiriya Hazardous Waste Treatment to destroy potential contaminants of concern
Centre (NHWTC) is conceived for the and control the emissions45.
treatment of inorganic hazardous waste and
includes: a physical-chemical treatment Electronic appliances are composed of
plant for inorganic liquid hazardous waste; a hundreds of different materials that could
solidification and stabilisation unit; storage be both toxic but also of high value46. While
units for organic and inorganic wastes; a bulk materials such as iron, aluminium,
hazardous landfill with a capacity of 40,000 plastics and glass account for over 80 weight
tonnes and a surface area of 14,000 m2, %, valuable and toxic materials are found
designed in accordance with the European in smaller quantities but are still of high
standards; evaporation ponds with an area importance. The material composition of
of 5,000 m2 for leachate from the landfill; different appliances is often similar, but the
organic hazardous waste transfer station; percentage of different components could
and a laboratory. vary a lot. Gold, silver, copper, platinum
etc. are valuable substances which turn
NHWTC provides collection, transportation, recycling of e-waste into a lucrative business
treatment and final disposal services for opportunity. On the other hand, recycling
hazardous industrial waste. Moreover, EEAA of hazardous substances, e.g. carcinogens
authorised three local private companies such as lead and arsenic is crucial and poses
for transporting hazardous liquid and solid considerable health risks and environment
waste to the centre, in 2011. NHWTC has dangers if not properly handled.
defined a price structure for the treatment of
inorganic hazardous waste to be disposed of The extensive uses of electrical and
in the landfill, treated by physical-chemical electronic equipment’s have raised
methods or by solidification. “Polluter pays public awareness of the negative adverse
principle” has been agreed upon from the environmental and health impacts associated
beginning of operations, meaning the price with their inefficient management. No
paid by hazardous waste producers covers records for e-waste generation, however, are
the treatment cost as well as depreciations of available. There are data gaps regarding the
the investments. Direct investment costs are numbers of computers and mobile phones
not included in the treatment price. in Egypt. The absence of studies and reliable
quantitative data makes it a challenge to
As a result of cooperation between the assess the size of the problem and to plan
Governments of South Korea and Egypt, appropriate e-waste management systems47.
the first facility for treatment of mercury in
44. The Egyptian National Cleaner Production Centre URL (http://encpc.org/en/services/technical-assistance/waste-management-recycling.html)

45. Safeguards Diagnostic Review for Piloting the Use of Egyptian Systems to Address Environmental Issues in the Proposed GEF-Financed, “Equivalence and
Acceptability Assessment Report”, Egypt Sustainable Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Management Project (P116230), Arab Republic of Egypt, Might,
2012
46. e-waste guide info URL (http://ewasteguide.info/node/6)
47. Leila Hassanin and Nahla Hassan (2011), “ICTs and environmental sustainability: Mapping national policy contexts - Egypt baseline study”, Association for
Progressive Communications (APC) and Arabdev (http://www.apc.org/en/system/files/EgyptFinalReport_Might2011.pdf)
2 The private sector looks to be taking the 2.2.2 Institutional arrangements
lead in e-waste management in Egypt.
Small individual efforts are being made by There is an urgent need to adopt an industrial
telecommunication and computer companies SWM programme including:
to improve their e-waste management. - Inventory of generated industrial
Recently, three private companies were waste - quantities and classification
established, the first for refurbishing old of all waste stream generated by each
ICT products and total recycling of e-waste, industry;
the second offers green recycling and - Measures to prevent pollution or
data destruction services, and the third to ecological degradation – details of steps
refurbish, reuse and remanufacture ink and taken to protect against impacts on the
toner cartridges. The involvement of civil environment;
society in e-waste management is restrained - Targets for waste minimisation through
and is mostly concentrated in the hands waste reduction, re-use, recycling and
of groups traditionally involved in waste recovery;
handling and recycling. - Measures to minimise the generation of
waste and its final disposal;
The Centre for Environment and - Measures or actions to be taken to
Development for the Arab Region and Europe manage waste;
(CEDARE) organised a side event at the - The phasing out of specified substances
third SWEEP-Net Regional Forum on ISWM, – identification of hazardous substances
held in Cairo, on May 14-16, 2013. CEDARE, and identification of prospects to
together with the Swiss Federal Laboratories reduce or phase out the use of these
for Materials Science and Technology substances in production processes;
(Empa), had officially launched the Egyptian - Opportunities for reduction of waste
subproject of the new “Sustainable Recycling generation through changes in
Industries” programme, which was funded packaging, product design and/or
by the Swiss State Secretariat of Economic production processes;
Affairs (SECO) and supported by the Egypt - Mechanisms for informing the public
Green ICT Initiative. Besides introducing the of the impacts of the waste generating
new project, the aim was to discuss how to products or packaging on the
address ecological challenges of e-waste, the environment – education programs,
need for regulatory developments and laws, labelling and other mechanisms
and the potential for business opportunities for addressing extended producer
through setting adequate standards and responsibility (EPR);
compliance schemes, as well as financing - The extent of any financial contribution
mechanisms related to extended producer to be made to support consumer-based
responsibility (EPR). Details on e-waste waste reduction programmes;
management and the Egyptian subproject - The period that is required for
programme are given in Annex 2. implementation of the plan – a
program including target dates
The health and environmental jeopardises for implementation of the waste
of e-waste handling and dismantling are management plan; and
not common knowledge. EEAA and MCIT - Methods for monitoring and
have planned several initiatives to raise reporting – details on how the waste
public awareness, but not much has been implementation plan will be monitored
implemented so far that reaches a critical and scope of reporting.
mass when it comes to shifting public
behaviour. It is also notable that there is no Law 4/1994 and its Executive Regulation
specious coordination with the MHP, even define means of sound environmental
though this is a public health issue. management of hazardous substances and
waste and sets requirements in coincidence
with the Basel Convention of 1989 controlling
trans-boundary movement of hazardous
waste and its disposal, which Egypt had European Waste Catalogue (EWC) to support
ratified in 1993. the identification of waste for inspectors,
guidance on taking waste samples on
The twinning project with EU (2008 - 2011) inspections, etc50.
supported EEAA in better addressing
and fulfilling the requirements of the The problems facing HS and HWM in Egypt
international standards of hazardous are:
waste management, as well as the world - Lack of control and management of
conventions48. A legislative framework handling, transportation and storage of
integrating harmonised provisions of the HS after their arrival to the country;
EU legal framework on HS and HWM and - Absence of unified and updatable
the respective amendments to Law No. database for all HS in the country;
4/1994 was drafted. A hazardous waste - Absence of database for HW;
regulation including new definitions for waste - Insufficient HW treatment units and
treatment/disposal facilities was also drafted. insufficient well trained staff;
The European Waste Catalogue (EWC), its - No serious efforts made to inform
classification system for hazardousness importer/producer/user of non/less HS
and its origin related identification system of alternatives; and
waste types was intended for implementation - Lack of database/updatable list of HW
to substitute the current system. producers in Egypt.
The twinning project findings wished-for The specific aims of this twinning project
modifications of the structure and mandate include:
of the departments of HS and WM in EEAA. - Improving EEAA’s institutional structure
The basic changes are to establish a separate to accomplish better management of
department for HS and to unify the solid and hazardous substances and waste;
hazardous waste departments to improve - Building appropriate capacities within
the shape of policies and enforcement. the beneficiary and key stakeholders
To improve the information flow and the to advance the management of HS and
database available for planning and strategy solid waste and the implementation and
developments, a new department for “Data enforcement of pertinent environmental
and Registry” is introduced. legislation;
- Developing a framework for integrated
An Integrated Strategy on Hazardous hazardous substances and waste
Substance and Waste Management management including the preparation
(ISHSWM) had been developed, consisting of of an integrated strategy, system and
two parts, one on waste and the second on plan for efficient management of solid
HS/chemicals50. The strategy recommended and other waste; and
launching a senior level Inter-Ministerial - Harmonising Egyptian legislation
Committee (SIC) with two Advisory pertaining to HS and waste with
Groups (AGs) to strengthen the strategic relevant EU laws and international
management structure. The SIC would play standards.
a key role in the formulation and monitoring
of the Strategy, Master Plan and each one of There are no policies or legislation governing
the Implementation Plans, taking advantage e-waste management in Egypt. The closest
of the completed studies and strategic reference is Law 4/1994 and Law 9/2009
documents, as well as the recommendations regarding hazardous waste. There are also
of the AGs. no plans, at present, to amend those laws
to include e-waste. The only regulations
Moreover, amendment on the HS and HW controlling e-waste have been set by MoT
monitoring and inspection system of EEAA requiring that imported computers be no
was recommended, e.g. by inspection more than five-years old from production
checklists, lists of waste produced by date.
different industry branches based on the
48. TWINNING EG07/AA/EN10, EU, “Development of Integrated Hazardous Substances and Waste Management System”, Twinning Final Report, Might 2011
2
2.3 Medical Waste Management
2.3.1 Generation, treatment and In the present case, contradiction in figures is

disposal obvious as compared with the corresponding
value of 3,416,254 tons, according to MoLD16.
In 2010, Egypt generated 28,300 tonnes of This gives the impression that the large
hazardous medical waste49. The value of estimated quantity of MoLD represents the
generated waste was estimated based on total waste generated from medical facilities.
the number of beds in public and private Non-hazardous waste makes up at least 85%
hospitals, clinics and medical centres. Table of all waste generated at medical facilities,
13 shows the daily generated hazardous and is no different from general household or
medical waste in Egypt’s Governorates. office waste, including ‘wet’ organic, paper,
plastics and any other materials that do not
fit into hazardous medical waste.
Governorate No. of Generated No. of Governorate No. of Generated No. of

Beds Waste Incine- Beds Waste Incine-
(Kgs/Day) rators (Kgs/Day) rators
Cairo 34,603 17,301 13 Fayoum 2,496 1,248 3
Giza 13,080 6,540 15 Bani Souwaif 2,527 1,263 5
Alexandria 12,534 6,267 1 Menia 6,450 3,270 17
Kalyobiya 10,165 5,082 5 Assiut 7,256 3,628 8
Dakahliya 9,328 4,664 15 Sohag 4,952 2,476 4
Al Gharbya 8,451 4,225 5 Qena 3,387 1,693 3
Monufia 5,987 2,993 11 Aswan 2,758 1,379 2
El-Beheira 5,292 2,646 15 Luxor 857 428 9
Kafr El-Sheikh 3,865 1,932 3 Red Sea 826 314 3
Sharqeia 8,668 4,334 16 Matruh 1,136 568 9
Damietta 2,709 1,354 4 North Sinai 716 358 2
Ismailia 2,168 1,084 9 South Sinai 560 280 8
Port Said 1,771 885 2 New Valley 848 424 2
Suez 1,683 841 1
Total No. of Beds: 154,965 Generated Hazardous Medical Waste: No. of Incinerators: 188
77,477 Kgs/Day
Table 13 Daily generated hazardous

medical waste51
49. Tarek Eed and Ehab Attia (2010), “Integrated Hazardous Medical Waste Management System”, MSEA/EEAA and Ministry of Health and Population
Figure 13 show the daily generated Law 89/1998 and its Executive Regulation
hazardous medical waste in Greater Cairo 1367/1998 issued by the Ministry of Finance
(Cairo, Giza and Kalyobiya Governorates), amended by Law 191/2008, govern all
the treated portion, and the portion left Government tenders for procurement of
without treatment51. The treated portion of goods and services. The private sector
hazardous medical waste is about 27%. The involved in service delivery was contracted
untreated hazardous medical waste is either according to this law, utilising a transparent
mixed with municipal solid waste or illegally bid process and contract award. However,
traded for recycling; this led to serious health regular supervision and monitoring on the
and environmental problems (Photo 13). ground is meagre. On the other hand, public
sector participation lacks applicable service
Collection, treatment and disposal planning, delivery, monitoring, liaison and
of hazardous medical waste are the feedback.
responsibility of the Governorates, either
directly or by contracting private companies, Hazardous medical waste treatment is
contractors, or NGOs. The private sector has generally conducted by thermal incineration.
limited donation in hazardous medical waste Table 13 presents data on the distribution of
management. Private companies provide 188 incinerators in the Governorates (Photo
collection, treatment and disposal of medical 14). However, most of those incinerators do
waste in the eastern and western zones of not work with a mandatory competence and
Cairo Governorate, in addition to Alexandria, do not comply with health and environmental
Sharqia and Port Said Governorates. requirements. Moreover, 48 shredding
autoclave units are operated for hazardous
medical waste treatment.
Most of the public/private operators in the

hazardous medical waste management
sector lack knowledge and expertise to
implement their jobs in a safe manner.
Generally, they don’t use appropriate
personal protection equipment’s and
supporting procedures.
Figure 13 Treated hazardous

medical waste in Greater Cairo
Photo 13 Transportation vehicle for hazardous medical Photo 14 Hazardous medical waste incinerator at Suez
waste at Suez Governorate Governoraet
2 2.3.2. Institutional arrangements The responsibility of managing hazardous
medical waste is dispensed between three
The institutional framework for hazardous basic systems, under the supervision of MHP
medical waste management incorporates the and EEAA51.
following: - A governmental system where medical
- The Cabinet of Ministers, MHP and waste is directed to treatment units
EEAA develop and adopt the public located inside the governmental
policies: hospitals;
- MHP, EEAA and the Civil Defence - A governmental system that forms
Authority supervise the implementation partnerships with the private sector or
of policies and monitoring their contracts private companies to address
performance; waste inside the medical facilities; and
- MHP and EEAA issue lists and codes of - Private companies that collect, transfer,
hazardous substances and waste; and treat medical waste.
- MHP, EEAA, Ministry of Housing and
Governorates are responsible for Hazardous medical waste management
the development of guidelines and legislation includes: law 4/1994 for the
standards of performance and the protection of the environment and its
preparation of various contracts and executive regulation 338/1995; Law 38/1967
licenses; on general public cleaning and its executive
- The Cabinet of Ministers, the Finance regulation 134/1968; law 48/1982 for the
and Planning Ministries, and MHP are protection of the river Nile and waterways
responsible for allocating credits of from pollution; the unified labour law 12/
finance; 2003 for the protection of workers from likely
- MHP, EEAA with the participation of harmful exposure; and MHP decrees 82, 343
scientific and technical experts, and and 413/1996 and 192/200. Limits for safe
the Ministry of Communication and emissions from medical waste incinerators
Information Technology are responsible were issued by EEAA in 2000/2001.
for capacity building programs and
awareness campaigns; A limited portion of the governmental
- The Governorates and local financial allocations to public health care
municipalities are responsible for the facilities is focused on medical waste
management of the medical waste, management. Such allotments, however, are
either directly or by contracting private insufficient for managing hazardous medical
companies, contractors, or NGOs; and waste in a safe and sustainable manner.
- The responsibilities of health care
facilities are: reducing the rate of waste
generation; and creating an integrated
hazardous medical waste management
including source separation, collection,
transportation, storage, treatment and
final disposal.
2.4 Construction and Demolition Waste
Management
2.4.1 Generation, treatment and and classification of the different types of
disposal generated solid waste that is much needed
in Egypt.
Beside municipal and industrial waste, a third
waste stream is becoming more and more Useful information on the management of
imperative in the context of integrated waste CDW in Egypt is enormously limited. Illegal
and resource management: construction and dumping of CDW on public roads, highways,
demolition waste (CDW)50. The confronted undeveloped land and beside residential
problems stem from the steady increase areas became common practice, causing a
of construction activities, which leads to traffic hazard, and on windy days increases
increasing amounts of construction waste the level of total suspended particulate
(Photo 15). In addition, the rising production matter (TSP). Sustainable solutions to the
of construction materials increases depletion CDW problems have yet to be introduced.
of raw materials and environmental damage
from material production. Since construction To evaluate CDW management options
often goes along with demolition, and since is compulsory to know the physical
lifetime spans of buildings in developing characteristics and composition of the CDW
countries are comparatively short, waste stream. Most CDW is non-toxic and apt for
from demolition also increases. recycling. However, the recycling industry
The disparate data of the estimated annual in Egypt is highly selective and uses a very
generation of CDW were given in ‘section small portion of the total generated waste.
1.3’ of this report. The estimated figure Proper CDW management would result in
provided by the MoLD is more than 10-folds cleaner sites around construction areas,
that proposed by EEAA. MoLD estimated reduce airborne pollution, reduce demand
the generation of 41,748,603 tonnes of CDW on disposal sites and, given the widespread
in 201016, whereas the corresponding nature of this phenomenon, provide
estimation of EEAA is 4,000,000 tonnes in additional job opportunities for unskilled and
201219. These peculiarly divergent figures manual labour.
arise from the lack of precise measurement
Box 9 Integrated thinking: solid waste

management in Singapore53
Starting at the top of the ‘waste hierarchy’, a key objective
is to reduce waste production. In this context the main
portion of Singapore’s non-combustible waste comes from
construction waste and stabilised industrial sludge. Much
of these have been diverted for reprocessing. For instance,
94% of the construction and demolition waste was recycled in
2005. At the same time, the country has also adopted specific
measures to minimise waste generation, such as the careful
selection of design and construction methods that minimise
waste production. By undertaking these measures, Singapore
is taking a big leap forward to realizing the ultimate goal of
‘Towards Zero Landfill’.
Photo 15 CDW dumped on roadside at Tanta city
50. Holcim-GTZ, “Reuse and Recycling of Construction and DeMoLDition Waste”, October, 2007 (http://www.coprocem.com/documents/Holcim-GTZ%20-%20
CDW%20Study%20--%20Revised%20Oct%202007.pdf)
51. Vincent Teo, “Integrated Thinking: Solid Waste Management in Singapore”, Waste Management World (http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/
print/volume-8/issue-1/features/integrated-thinking-solid-waste-management-in-singapore.html)
2 2.4.2 Institutional arrangements Practical guidelines were recommended
to be combined to the Egyptian Executive
The management of CDW is forwarded by Regulations 338/1995 of Law 4/1994 to
Article 39 of Law 4/1994 and Article 41 of manage the amount and types of CDW in
the executive regulations (Prime Minister Egypt53. The guidelines were designed based
Decree Number 338/1995). Both the on conclusions inferred from two instructed
law and its executive regulations dictate surveys and published literature, and were
that all persons involved in exploration, then reviewed by selected participants.
excavation, construction and demolition Subsequently the guidelines were upgraded
to take necessary actions, as specified in based on the evaluation by a number of
the executive regulations, to safely store, 35 prominent national and multinational
transport and dispose wastes generated construction organisations in Egypt.
by those activities. This article contains
the specifications and requires local The proposed Egyptian DWM management
authorities to incorporate them into permits guidelines covered:
for exploration, excavation, construction & - The waste management hierarchy
demolition. based on the ‘4Rs’ Golden Rule of
Reducing, Reusing, Recycling and
Laws 106/1976 and 101/1996 allow local Recovering of waste;
governments to include the management - The different implementation stages,
of CDW in the permits required for which start from the early planning
construction activities52. This law also allows phase, followed by the tendering and
local governments to collect a fee from contract formulation phase, and finally
contractors and owners to, among other the execution phase;
things, provide or pay for CDW collection and/ - The various techniques, methodologies,
or disposal. However, it is usually cheaper procedures and strategies
for a contractor to haul CDW to a nearby recommended to reduce the amount of
unapproved site and forfeit already paid-for waste; and
disposal services at an approved, but more - The degree of involvement of all the
distant, site. Furthermore, existing legislation construction industry parties (owner,
is not effective due to: engineer, designer, and contractor) in
- Many construction activities occur the functioning of the guidelines.
without a permit;
- There is limited enforcement of these The recommendations presented act as
regulations; a good basis for introducing changes, but
- Few local governments provide CDW more political support is called for to enforce
collection and disposal services; and their implementation. There must also be
- The 1% building permit fee is usually a rigorous effort of all stakeholders, i.e. the
committed to other services. local authorities, the construction industry,
the manufacturing industry, researchers,
Even though Law 4/1994 regulated the building owners, etc., to play active roles.
disposal of CDW, the law did not incorporate
any clauses that suggest waste minimisation.
52. Abt Associates, Inc., SCS Engineers, Community & Institutional Development, and the Institute for Public-Private Partnerships, Inc. (2001), “SWM
Privatization Procedural Manual - Chapter 9: Construction and Demolition Debris Management”, Solid Waste Technical Assistance, Egyptian Environmental
Policy Program/MSEA/USAID
53. Marwa Al-Ansary, Salah El-Haggar, and Mahmoud Taha, November, 2004, “Sustainable Guidelines for Managing Demolition Waste in Egypt”, Paper
presented at Forum Barcelona International RILEM Conference on the “Use of Recycled Materials in Buildings and Structures”,
2.5 Agriculture Residues Management
2.5.1 Generation, treatment and for these materials have remained rural,
disposal traditional and at a small scale. As a result,
there has been little incentive for straw
In 2012, Egypt generated about 30 million harvesting and removal, and burning has
tonnes of agriculture residues (around always reflected in cost-effective advantages
82,200 tonnes per day)19. A large portion of to the grower for cleared fields, disease
agricultural residues is either burned in the control and timeliness.
fields or dumped on the banks of couldals
and drains, creating obstacles to water flow For those living downwind of burning
and endangering water quality54. Burning fields, however, issues of environmental
of crop residues is a problem in Egypt, degradation have arisen as crop yields
especially rice straw. Egypt cultivates about have improved during the past 20 years.
360,000 hectares of rice according to 2008 Noxious gases and black smog have
statistics, with a production of 6 million tons come to dominate the skies over the Cairo
of straw55. metropolitan area during the annual rice
harvesting period (September - October) with
resultant air pollution, damage to structures
and adverse effect on human health.
It is up to the grower to decide the way of

disposing his agriculture residues. The most
common practice for disposing is by dumping
it at municipal waste sites, dumping it in the
desert (Photo 16) or simply burning it. The
failure of any management plan to tackle
agriculture residues, especially rice straw, is
based on the assumption that this waste is
free, and the grower has just to give it away.
Figure 14 Produced According to the MoLD statistics, 12

and recycled rice
straw in 2009/2010 Governorates cultivated rice in 2009/2010.
After harvesting, the produced rice straw
was 2,189,086 tonnes of which 1,969,701
tonnes were recycled16. Figure 14 shows the
relation between produced and recycled rice
straw.
Large quantities of surplus rice straw have

been, and continue to be, burned in-field
as a means of quickly clearing land for the
following crops56. Neither equipment nor
services nor infrastructure is in place to
harvest the non-edible portion that is yielded
from rice each year. Furthermore, markets
Photo 16 Dumped agricultural waste at Kafr El-Sheikh

Governorate
54. Samir A.El-Shimi, International Resources Group (2005), “Design and Cost Analysis of Agricultural Waste Recycling Alternatives for Sinbo Village, Gharbiya
Governorate”, Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation/Life/USAID
55. Mahmoud Medany (2011), “Vermiculture in Egypt: Current Development and Future Potential”, FAO
56. Peter Steele, Ahmed El-Hissewy and Abd El-Azim Badawi (2009), “Technical Manual: Agro-Industrial Use of Rice Straw - Exploring opportunities for making
better use of rice residues in Egypt”, Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation/FAO
2 In fact the grower realises that agricultural There are many potential uses of rice
residues becomes valuable once collected straw and other agricultural residues that
and being ready for transport. On the other represent significant market opportunities58.
hand, as long as the residues are in his Agricultural residues could be burned to
property, no one could force him to hand it generate electricity to provide energy for
over. For him, burning the residue in site has farmers, or used as feedstock for village-
some agricultural benefits, such as use of based centralised waste to energy (WTE)
minerals in the ash as fertilizer, as well as plants; it could also be used to generate
getting rid of insects and diseases inhabiting biogas at the household level through small
the surface soil layer as a result of burning56. units, and/or on a more industrial scale.
There is an extreme scarcity of the Thus rather than being viewed as a problem,
combining, raking and baling machines, and agricultural residues should be admitted as
not enough trucks to transport the baled rice a resource that could be utilised to generate
straw bales. In addition, the un-paved dirty income and help conserve other non-
roads render transportation between farms renewable resources.
and market almost a mission impossible.
Therefore, agricultural co-operations have to Generation of biogas from agricultural
work to provide a storage place for the ready residues has been promoted by the
bales, trucks and mechanical equipment’s to Government since many years, with a
overwhelm the previous obstacles56. number of small demonstration units
established. Two Government-funded plants
Numerous advantages might be achieved have been constructed with technical and
from the utilisation of agricultural residues, financial assistance from China. Generated
mainly57: gas is currently piped free of charge into
- Creation of new small agro industries in houses in local villages for cooking. This
rural areas; technology has considerable potential to be
- Generation of new job opportunities, of value in other Egyptian villages. However,
particularly for women in rural areas; within the widespread access to modern
- Use as compost for land reclamation, power/fuel in recent years, and subsidised
contributing to addition of new prices, there has been limited demand for
cultivated areas; alternative forms of energy. This will change
- Fostering clean farming, thus over time due to the expected increase of
promoting export; power/fuel prices59 .
- Reduction of both chemical fertilisers
and irrigation water;
- Substitution for fodder production, thus
reduce imports of feedstuff; and
- Supporting environmental sanitation,
thus increasing the opportunity for new
clean environmentally friendly source of
energy.
57. Mohamed El-Tamzini, Hassan El-Shaer and Nabil Hegazi (2008), “Proceedings - Expert Consultation on the Utilization of Agricultural Residues, Cairo,
Egypt”, FAO
58. Karen Ellis, with inputs from Smita Nakhooda (2012), “ Green Growth Opportunities and Requirements in Egypt”, GIZ
59. Waste Management World, “Asian Development Bank’s Rural Biogas Project: A Hit in China”, (http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/2012/08/
asian-development-bank-s-rural-biogas-project-a-hit-in-china-.html)
Box 10 Asian Development Bank’s rural biogas project: A hit in China61
China disposes large quantities of agricultural A $33 million loan from the Asian Development Bank
residues inappropriately, with crop residue often (ADB) has raised a successful project to increase the
burnt and animal waste left to rot. Such practices use of biogas generated from agricultural residues
are not only harmful to the environment, but also as a form of renewable energy that improved the
constitute a loss of potential energy and nutrient environment and promoted local economic growth
resources, which could add value to an integrated in China. Thousands of villagers in China have
farming system, reduce costs, provide opportunities benefited from the Efficient Utilisation of Agricultural
for an integrated best management approach, and Residues Project. The project aims to increase the
help implement clean farming techniques. use of biomass-based renewable energy systems.
Another market option to deal with is the enterprises, and many associated jobs, and
potential for export60. For example, rice at the same time to significantly reduce
straw pellets could be manufactured and pollution58.. However, there has been
exported. A large-scale straw pelleting plant limited development of the sector, and the
was commissioned in 2008 for the sale of commercial viability of some of these options
pellets into export markets. One private plant rests unproven. This is in part because of
has been founded so far producing biofuel limited incentives to use alternative forms
from rice straw. This plant was expected to of energy, due to subsidised energy, partly
initiate around 200 jobs, and there are plans because of the costs of doing business, and
to build new plants elsewhere. lack of appropriate investment climate and
legal and regulatory framework, and partly
Straw briquetting is another option that has because of immature technologies that
been developed in recent years60. During have not enabled prices to fall sufficiently
2008, a joint Austrian-Egyptian initiative to make these options viable. However,
resulted in the establishment of a straw in some technologies there has already
briquetting plant at Sharqeia expecting to been investment by the private sector, with
sell most products to the EU. A second plant some apparent success, thus it seems that
is planned on the basis of the success of the with a few improvements to the enabling
first one. If successful this might result in environment there might well be the
further investment. potential for some quick wins in terms
of market growth and job creation in the
Thus, agricultural residues has the industry, along with visible environmental
potential to generate significant new market improvements.
opportunities for large and small scale
2 2.5.2 Institutional arrangements The most obvious way to conceive a more
enabling environment for the development
MALC has the main responsibility for of the agricultural residues sector would
providing oversight of the agricultural be to reduce energy and fuel subsidies,
residues sector, in cooperation and to a lesser extent fertiliser subsidies
and coordination with MSEA/EEAA. that would generate enlarged demand
Environmental Law 4/1994, and amendments for alternative sources of fuel, energy and
in Law 9/2009, specify that farmers who compost, and thus stimulate demand for
practice rice straw burning could be fined up agricultural residues as an input56. Another
to LE 20,000 and prohibit dumping of straw in way would be to more strictly enforce the
areas other than those specified, namely in ban on the burning or unauthorised dumping
residential, industrial and agricultural areas of agricultural residues that would increase
and waterways. Moreover, Directive 63/2002 the supply. In combination with this, the
of MALC prohibits the growing and burning of removal of fees on authorised dumping sites
rice in the Kalyobiya Governorate to minimise in agricultural areas could be one way of
air pollution in Greater Cairo. increasing their use, and the cost of provision
by local government could potentially be
MALC Decree 100/1967 required that recouped by the sale of that accumulated
fertilisers made from household waste waste for industrial purposes.
should meet the following specifications:
- Nitrogen content: not less than 0.5%; In addition, there might be scope to scale-up
- Organic matter content: not less than or develop further some of the pilot projects
18%; that have been initiated to explore uses of
- Moisture content: not more than 30%; agricultural residues (e.g. for briquetting,
- Sodium chloride: not more than 5%; gasification, etc.), and to expand them or
and undertake new public/private partnerships
- Carbon/nitrogen ratio: within the range in order to ameliorate some of the risks
of 1:17 - 1: 25 private players would face in developing
new markets and technologies in light of
Although MALC leads on many aspects of substantial uncertainty about future market
the agricultural residues sector, it is clear demand.
that a cross-departmental collaboration
is still in urgent need to support the The potential could also be explored as to
industrial development opportunities that whether these industries could be eligible
agricultural residues offer. Moreover, MTI to receive different forms of climate finance
is well positioned to play a role in promoting e.g. carbon credits through the Clean
awareness of the industrial opportunities Development Mechanism, or grants through
associated with agricultural residues, mechanisms such as the Global Environment
develop a market development strategy, Facility.
and to help establish a network of relevant
stakeholders, including the agribusiness 2.6 Literature review on SWM in
industry, and to make linkages between Egypt
different parts of the supply chain in order to
accelerate market development. Annex 3 provides a literature review on SWM
in Egypt.
3. Current Situation
of Municipal Solid
Waste Management
in the Selected
Governorates
3 Current Situation
of Municipal Solid
Waste Management
in the Selected
Governorates
This chapter discusses issues attached to MSWM in the
selected Governorates. Detailed information, discussions and
comparisons of the system’s main features are presented.
It also values the quantities of generated municipal solid
waste, its composition and points out to the anomaly in the
available figures in some of those Governorates. In addition, the
benchmark indicators were qualitatively exploited to assess:
waste collection and street sweeping service quality and
coverage (public health indicator); waste treatment and disposal
quality and coverage (environmental control indicator); Reduce,
Reuse and Recycle “3Rs” (resource recovery indicator); and the
degree of service user and provider inclusion in the planning
and delivery of services (inclusivity indicator). Moreover, a
comparative analysis of solid waste collection, treatment and
disposal services is tabulated.
The NSWMP aims to set up a national

database of MSWM practises in all the The present study covers the entire
Governorates. This target will be achieved Governorates, main cities in districts
by a series of reports each addressing (Marakez) and examples of some mother
the situation in a group of Governorates. villages. Despite there are no significant
In this report, seven Governorates had model variations between villages in
been selected for in-depth study of the the selected Governorates, as the SWM
current MSWM situation. Qena, Assiut and situation is almost in concert with the same
Fayoum Governorates were selected as challenges and degradation, the villages
representative examples of Upper Egypt were mainly selected to represent semi-
Governorates; whereas Kalyobiya, Al urban areas.
Gharbiya and Kafr El-Sheikh Governorates
represent the Delta region and Suez The valuation of MSWM in the selected
Governorate represents a coastal one. The Governorates was based on a predefined
Governorates were chosen within Upper set of benchmark indicators, as outlined in
Egypt and Delta regions to represent diverse section 1.2 and Annex 1. Waste management
geographical locations: in the vicinity of the indicators are used for the following
capital (Fayoum and Kalyobiya), in the centre reasons60:
of the region (Assiut and Al Gharbiya) and the - Indicators could work as a basis for
farthest (Qena and Kafr El-Sheikh). assessment by providing information
60. C. Visvanathan, “Waste Management Indicators: Priority and Challenges”, Asia Resource Circulation Policy Research Workshop, Bangkok, 12-14 December
2012
62 3. Current Situation of Municipal Solid Waste Management — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013
on conditions and trends of waste and non-expert audience; and
management; - Indicators could provide benchmarks
- Indicators review existing targets for for comparisons between different
waste prevention, reuse, recycling, Governorates, and also set a milestone
recovery and landfill diversion targets; or roadmap for the nation’s waste
- On the basis of such assessments, management situation.
indicators (scores) not only illustrate
the current status but spells out future The current report limits its reach to
waste policy directions by providing only seven Governorates for the detailed
inputs to policy formulation processes; description in order to test the methodology
- Numeric value of the indicators makes and benchmark indicators, but shall serve as
it easier to interpret the situation and a model for further all-inclusive reports.
communicate the result to both experts
3.1 Waste Related Data

It was always noticed that the generation Data on the generation and composition
and composition of household waste were of MSW is a key in planning for the long
not homogeneous. In general, they vary term management of SW in an efficient and
according to changes in consumption economical manner. Such management
patterns and economic growth rates and includes the selection and operation of
depend on the standard of living, season equipment’s used in handling and treating
of the year, day of the week, population solid waste, and the types of disposal
habits and the geographical site of human facilities that allow resource recovery and
settlement. energy generation.
Based on the inconsistent figures of generated MSW, we

recommend re-estimating the generated MSW and its
composition, using an approved methodology.
3. Current Situation of Municipal Solid Waste Management — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013 63
3 The national figures show considerable However, on using the data of the study
variability in waste generation and report for projection of the generated MSW
composition among the selected in 2012, based on a population growth rate
Governorates. Table 14 and Figure 15 per year of 2.2% and an annual increase
illustrate the generated MSW in the in SWM generation of 2.2%, then the study
Governorates, along with the corresponding report figure would be about 375,831 tonnes,
Marakez. in 2012. The projected figure of generated
MSW varies slightly from that provided by
Table 14 shows two sets of figures for the EEAA and significantly from the figure given
generated MSW in Qena Governorate, in by EMU of Qena Governorate for the same
black and red colours. The figures in black year of 2012.
were collected by the Governorate’s EMU
from the corresponding authorities in the Another example of anomaly in the
Marakez for the generated MSW in 2012. The figures of the annual generated MSW was
corresponding figures in red were estimated detected in Kalyobiya Governorate. The data
in the study report “Solid Waste Management collected from the Governorate indicated
Project in Qena Governorate”, in 2005 61. the generation of 579,350 tonnes of MSW
in 2012. The corresponding estimation of
The estimated data in the 2005 report is EEAA is 3,500 tonnes/day (1,277,500 tonnes/
more than 3-folds the corresponding values year)19. This estimation is consistent with
given in 2012 by the Markez authorities; data provided by the manager of Abo-
contradicting the expected increase in Zaabal dumpsite who pointed out that they
generated solid waste due to the increase in receive 3,500 – 4,000 tonnes/day of MSW.
population, economic growth and changes in The Governorate authorities guaranteed
consumption patterns. that Abo-Zaabal dumpsite receives all the
generated MSW from the Governorate for
Table 15 summarises the available data disposal, as the compost plant in Abo-Zaabal
for generated MSW in Qena Governorate. is not functioning since its establishment ten
The only comparable data are those of years ago and it is forbidden to receive waste
EEAA (2012) and of the study report (2005). generated outside the Governorate premises.
Table 14 Generated MSW in the

selected Governorates in 2012
61. Infrastruktur & Umwelt, “Solid Waste Management Project in Qena Governorate: Public Perception Report”, KfW/Qena Governorate, December 2005
Governorates and Population* Generated Governorates and Population* Generated
Marakez MSW Marakez MSW
(Tonnes) (Tonnes)
Qena Governorate Kalyobiya Governorate

Markez Abo Tesht 400,732 1,920 Markez Banha 630,084 43,800
40,779
Markez Farshoot 167,906 1,466 Markez Khanka 566,131 14,600
20,059
Markez Nagaa 514,973 18,540 Markez Khosoos 343,727 30,025
Hamadi 58,673
Markez Deshna 388,098 13,824 Markez Kaha 31,503 12,775
39,444
Markez Alwaqf 79,640 360 Markez Kalyub 558,469 14,600
9,854
Markez Qena 582,068 60,933 Markez Shibin Al- 500,152 14,600
73,774 Kanater
Markez Qaft 143,122 187 Markez Shubra El- 1,210,385 401,500
16,332 Kheima
Markez Qoos 418,051 8,332 Markez Tukh 550,177 14,600
45,558
Markez Naqada 161346 6,765 Markez Al-Kanater 452,139 25,550
18,255 Al-Khairia
Total 2,855,936 112,327 Markez Kafr Shukr 175,084 7,300
322,728
Total 5,017,851 579,350
Assiut Governorate
Markez Abnub 371,870 27,000 Al Gharbya Governorate
Markez Abutig 330,051 52,200 Markez El-Mahalla 1,143,986 237,250

El-Kubra
Markez Assiut 954,137 69,480 Markez Kafr El-Zayat 420,166 54,750
Markez Dairut 546,620 32,400 Markez Samannoud 330,360 62,050
Markez El-Badari 256,005 20,520 Markez Tanta 1,065,236 200,750
Markez El-Fateh 286,997 19,980 Markez Zifta 493,999 76,650
Markez El- 125,335 9,000 Markez El-Santa 411,606 40,150

Ghanayem
Markez Manfalut 495,130 33,480 Markez Kotoor 309,696 47,450
Markez El-Qusiya 433,323 34,200 Markez Bassyoun 269,398 47,450
Markez Sahel 161,560 10,440 Total 4,444,447 766,500

Selim
Markez Sedfa 190,597 14,760
Total 4,151,625 323,460
3
Governorates and Population* Generated Governorates and Population* Generated

Marakez MSW Marakez MSW
(Tonnes) (Tonnes)
Kafr El Sheikh Governorate
Fayoum Governorate Markez Al-Hamool 64,451 57,870
Markez Fayoum 805,902 77,015 Markez Baltim 227,530 33,580
Markez Atsa 588,780 15,330 Markez Beila 231,686 55,115
Markez Tamia 373,324 29,200 Markez Desouk 490,626 79,205
Markez Ebshway 345,695 6,935 Markez Fuwa 154,353 31,025
Markez Senuris 508,953 47,450 Markez Kafr El-Sheikh 549,815 106,580
Markez Yousef El- 323,918 7,300 Markez Metoubes 257,194 23,725

Sedeek
Total 2,946,572 183,230 Markez Qallin 228,689 27,010
Markez Riyadh 154,752 139,466
Suez Governorate Markez Sidi Salem 362,038 54,385
Total 576,279 127,750 Total 2,721,134 607,961
*Estimated population at the end of December 2012, Source: The Governorates
Figure 15 Generated
MSW in the selected
Governorates in 2012
3 Source of Data Year Generated MSW (Tonnes)
EMU, Qena Governorate 2012 112,327
MoLD16 2010 55,070
Table 15 Generated EEAA19 2012 394,200
MSW in Qena
Governorate Study report63 2005 322,728
The per capita generated MSW in the

selected Governorates was calculated from
the above table (cf. Table 16).
Source of Data Year Generated MSW (Tonnes)
Kg/day Kg/year
Qena 0.11 39.3
0.31 113.0
Assiut 0.21 77.9
Fayoum 0.17 62.2
Kalyobiya 0.32 115.5
Al Gharbiya 0.47 172.5
Table 16 Per capita
MSW generation Kafr El Sheikh 0.61 223.4
in the selected
Suez 0.61 221,7
Governorates
One important element in getting better Assiut, Fayoum, Kalyobiya and Al Gharbiya
waste management is the prerequisite to Governorates were provided by the EMU or
accommodate chosen technologies to the the Cleansing and Beatification Agencies of
character of the waste that is generated in the Governorates. These values are rough
a particular location62. If wastes are wet and estimates and need further verification.
dense, buying compactor trucks will often be Moreover, the EMU and the Cleansing and
a waste of money. If wastes have low calorific Beatification Authority in Suez Governorate
value, it will not be possible to incinerate don’t have data on the composition of
them without using supplementary fuel. If generated MSW. The only available
considerable amounts of toxic waste have information was gotten from the compost
entered the general MSW stream, leachate plant, that receives all the generated MSW;
from dumpsites will be predominantly indicating that 60% of the waste composition
hazardous. On the other hand, if a portion of is organic
the waste stream is made up of organics or
could be easily separated into organics and Egypt Environmental Data and
non-organics, composting might become a Information (the Critique)
worthwhile waste management strategy.
The role of data / statistics / information is
In the selected Governorates, the a vital tool supportive of informed decision
biodegradable portion overshadows the bulk making, proper planning, investment
of MSW (cf. Table 17 and Figure 16). The attraction, financial sustainability and
composition of MSW in Qena61 and Kafr credible assessment / presentation and
El Sheikh63 Governorates was determined consultation on environmental issues.
in 2005. The corresponding figures for
62. CalRecovery Incorporated, “Solid Waste Management – Volume 1), UNEP, 2005
63. Infrastruktur & Umwelt, “Solid Waste Management Project in Kafr El Sheikh Governorate: Public Perception Report”, KfW/ Kafr El Sheikh Governorate,
December 2005
Governorate Waste Composition, %
Organic Paper & Plastics Metal Glass Textile Others

Cardboard
Qena 66.5 12.4 10.2 1.0 2.0 2.1 5.8
Assiut 48.4 9.1 10.0 2.2 4.9 1.9 23.5
Fayoum 54.3 10.1 7.9 2.4 3.6 3.1 18.6
Kalyobiya 62.5 10 13.5 3 5 2 5
Al Gharbya 55 17 7 4 3 4 10
Kafr El 85.0 2.5 5.0 0.5 0.8 1.0 5.2
Sheikh
Suez 60 -- -- -- -- -- 40
Table 17
Composition of
MSW in the selected
Governorates
Figure 16 Composition
of MSW in the selected
Governorates
3 In Egypt, and over the last 50 years, keeping the system has gaps regarding pollutant
control over statistics has been well-thought- emissions, solid waste, and other subjects.
out as a matter of national security. The The overall coordination of the system is still
“Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and lacking. Each agency sets its own policies
Statistics (Capmas)” was established by and collects its own data, and no one agency
presidential decree in 1964 as the country’s has the authority to require all members of
“official source for the collection of data and the system to collaborate. Collaboration in
statistical information, and its preparation, several areas could strengthen the system;
processing and dissemination”. Capmas is among them are data sharing among
in charge of “providing all the state bodies, Ministries and with the public, documentation
organisations, universities, research centres of available data, and integration of data
with the information that could help them to systems covering the same topics or clear
make informed decisions. documentation of explaining why they differ64.
The “Information and Decision Support The lack of collaboration between those
Centre” is another organisation within the entities has weakened the statistical system
Cabinet of Ministers with a primary task to in Egypt and ignored the much needed
provide information and data to the cabinet transparency and accuracy to avoid data
supportive of informed decision-making. differences and erratic estimations.
The deficiency of environmental data and Available data on SWM reflect such
information is not sector-characteristic. discrepancy that led to chronic failure
Actually Egypt suffers widespread in designing and implementing efficient
statistical and informational deficiencies. solutions. Throughout the implementation
The noticeable gaps and discrepancies in of the current task (SWM Current Situation),
Egyptian statistics and the quality of basic the discrepancy of the collected data has
data set up significant divide between facts shaped a confusing situation to say the least.
and decision-making that led to a failure This statement is necessary to highlight the
in analysing pressing issues. The lack of insistent need of establishing a credible and
accurate data not only disturbs the quality efficient ‘Environmental statistical system’
of decisions but has more drastic impact of where the major players are engaged and
damaging Egypt’s international image when cooperating.
a discrepancy in local and international
statistics is discovered. MSEA could and should assume the
central role and duty of initiating and
“The Egyptian environmental statistics establishing a reliable statistical system on
system is a loose network of government all environmental aspects (land, water, air,
agencies, donors, and businesses that biodiversity and SWM).
between them collect, process, produce,
and use statistics on air and water quality, The EEAA should lead acknowledging the
solid waste, irrigation, sewerage, soil and necessity and merits of establishing a
agriculture, protected areas, biodiversity, national environmental data and information
and other subjects1. Most data begin and system conducive of proper decision-making,
remain within Government agencies; public appropriate strategizing and planning,
access to both summary reports and the attracting investment, designing and
motivating data is rather limited, as is data implementing competent SWM solutions and
sharing among Ministries. Data on air and projects’ development.
water quality are fairly comprehensive, but It might be advisable for the Integrated Solid
64. Joy E. Hecht, August 2004, “Environmental Statistics and Accounting in Egypt: Challenges and Opportunities”, Study carried out for the USAID DATA Project,
Ministry of Planning
Waste Management Sector (ISWMS) to effort This proposed unit will certainly have
and assume a leading role in instituting a technical and financial needs to be capable
“national environmental data / information of operating on a respectable level, and
unit” within the organisational structure of it might be fitting to recommend further
the NSWMP. The culture of transparency, discussions and consultations within relevant
coordination and collaboration between stakeholders conducive of changing the
various entities, governmental; public and current confused seen.
private, must be progressed and nourished
in order to generate a new era of information A first step in that attempt could be an
openness and sharing where all entities have open dialogue within EEAA, with possible
a common target of facing economic and assistance of GIZ, to discuss a ‘roadmap’
social challenges with punctuality, efficiency and possibly come up with the TOR of the
and practicality. proposed unit.
3.2 Waste Collection

The term “solid waste collection” is taken The responsibility for providing SWM service
to incorporate the initial storage of waste at lays on the Governorates, and a common
the household, shop or business premises, and fundamental deficiency is the failure of
the loading, unloading and transfer of waste, Governorates to ensure that necessary funds
and all stages of transporting the waste are available to provide an acceptable level
until it reaches its final destination – a of service. Making matters worse, the limited
treatment plant or disposal site 65. In addition, funds that are available are habitually used to
the sweeping of streets and public places, acquire inadequate, and often inappropriate,
the cleaning of open storm drains and the collection equipment’s or to maintain an
removal of these wastes are also included insufficient, obsolete collection fleet. The
(Figure 17). absence of adequate planning and the use of
improper vehicles and equipment’s have led
Collection and transportation of MSW make to wasting funds and effort in this direction.
the hugest claim on municipal budgets Consequently, the service provided could,
and have big impact on urban living. Of the at best, be described as unreliable and/or
total expenditure incurred in SWM, typically inefficient.
70 to 80% is bound for collection and
transportation stages of wastes67.
65. Manus Coffey and Adrian Coad (2010), “Collection of Municipal Solid Waste in Develobing Countries”, UN-Habitat
3
Photo 17 A Qena Photo 17 B Fayoum
Photo 17 C Banha Photo 17 D Tanta
Photo 17 E Kafr El Sheikh Photo 17 F Suez
In general, the local authorities in and the maintenance and repair workshop
the Governorates are surviving many shows that although the workers do not
inconveniences in keeping pace with the wear any working uniforms or protective
increase in population and in meeting wear, the equipment’s that are used for
the growing demand for SWM services, waste collection and other cleansing
especially collection service. In the selected operations were clean and in good condition.
Governorates, solid waste collection service Only simple maintenance operations of
is provided by the public sector. However, transportation fleet and equipment’s are
small contractor companies provide done in the workshop.
collection services in Markez Shubra El-
Kheima at Kalyobiya Governorate and partial Dumping of CDW in the city streets is a
collection services in Markez Assiut. NGOs problem, especially in Elbeaa district. The
handle collection services in some villages in spread of CDW alongside the highways and
the Governorates. watercourses is a common scene in the
Governorate.
Further details concerning waste collection
in each of the selected Governorates is given In Qoos city the whole picture of MSW
below. collection and transportation is similar to
the capital city. The city streets are clean
i) Qena Governorate that implies equal cleansing coverage to the
There are no waste collection bins or whole city. However, there are insufficient
containers used in Qena Governorate. The waste collection equipment’s and transport
officials signified that using refuse collection trucks. Only three trucks are working out of
bins was not that successful. The citizens ten available. Moreover, the officials suffer
used to dump their household waste in the from dumping large quantities of CDW in
street sides or corners. Moreover, the bins the streets of the city. An open area, inside
were at all times stolen or burned. the city, is used for collection and transfer of
waste.
The streets are regularly cleaned in Qena
city at least once per day. Household waste The directorate of health in the city is
is dumped in collection points in the streets responsible for collection of hazardous
and the municipal workers collect it twice a medical waste and its transport using an
day. The officials pointed out that they apply equipped truck to Qena city for incineration.
an unwritten plan for collection and street However, a part of this waste ends up to be
cleansing. In emergency situations, they mixed with the household waste. A contractor
mobilise some workers and equipment’s to is responsible for collection and transport
the anticipated location. Waste collection and of the sludge produced from the paper mill
street cleansing coverage are nearly equal in in Markez Qoos to a designated dumpsite.
the whole rich, medium and poor residential However, it was noticed that large quantities
sectors of the city. of this waste are illegally dumped along the
access road to the dumpsite.
The waste transportation trucks are covered
with heavy textile sheets during the service. In Hegaza village, at Markez Qoos, waste
Waste collection trucks are at the same level collection and transport is handled by the
of cleanliness that reflects the good working local administration unit as well. There
conditions of waste collectors and the is a lack of equipment’s and workers,
positive impact on environment and health of nevertheless, the streets look clean.
citizens and workers.
On the other hand, NGOs are responsible for
Waste collection workers wear clean collection and transportation of household
uniforms, and use somehow clean and waste in three villages in Markaz Naqada.
suitable hand tools (e.g. waste collection Collection is conducted three times a week.
trays and wheel barrows, with brooms The agricultural residues are generally used
and shovels). The first look at the garage for feeding animals, except for sugar cane
3 dry leaves that is openly burned in the fields, and transportation system in Abu Tig is better
causing serious air pollution. than that in Assiut city.
ii) Assiut Governorate In the day of our visit to El Fateh city, the
Similar to Qena, Assiut Governorate doesn’t municipal collection workers were on
use waste collection bins or containers, strike. Household waste was accumulated
except for some small baskets that are in the streets. Moreover, agricultural and
hanged on lampposts in the main street in CDW were accumulated on the main road
the East district of Assiut city (El Gomhoria surrounding the city.
Street).
On the other hand, in El Zarabi village, it was
There is no distinct role for the private noticed that small quantities of accumulated
sector in the SWM, except in East Assiut waste was present in the waste collection
district, where a private contractor collects points, despite the absence of waste
the generated households waste. Waste is collection bins or containers. The village
dumped by both residents and the private roads and lanes were relatively clean.
contractor in specific collection points in A common feature is that the waste
the streets of the city. The system is based transportation trucks are not covered with
on two daily shifts for waste collection and plastic sheets and this leads to spattering
transportation. Accumulated waste alongside of some waste along a distance of 15-20 km
the streets and corners is a common trait during transportation. This leads to adverse
in the low income district ‘West Assiut’ and working conditions for waste collectors and
open burning of waste was observed in some negative adverse impacts on the environment
cases. as well as the health of workers and citizens.
The waste collection equipment’s and
MSW collection and street cleansing, is transportation trucks are at a moderate level
better in the Eastern district of Assiut (high of cleanliness.
income district) than in the Western district
(relatively low income areas) by about 10- Neither the waste collection and
20%. In the Eastern district the waste is lifted transportation nor the workshop workers
twice daily; whereas it is lifted once per day were dressed in specific uniforms or
in the West district. The major cities of the protective wear. Inspection of the garage and
different Marakez are characterised by more mechanical workshop in both Assiut and El
clean streets in the high income East district Fateh cities indicates that the equipment’s
of the city compared to those in lower income used in waste collection and transportation
districts, although it might be lower to some are in relatively good condition. Only simple
extent than that for the capital city. maintenance operations of transportation
fleets and equipment’s are performed in the
For street cleansing, 25 mechanical mechanical workshop.
sweepers are used for the daily cleansing of
the main streets in Assiut city and secondary iii) Fayoum Governorate
streets are manually cleansed day after day. The entrance of Fayoum city seems clean
and the streets were sprayed with water.
In Abu Tig city, MSW collection and street The street sweepers wear clean uniforms
cleansing is regular and efficient. The city and boots, and use proper equipment’s for
seems relatively cleaner than the capital waste collection and street cleansing. The
city of the Governorate. The system is main and secondary streets inside the city
based on one shift for waste collection were clean as well; and the service provision
and transportation daily. Similar to Assuit is equally distributed in high and low income
city, residents dump their waste in specific districts. However, accumulated CDM was
waste collection points at the streets, to be noticed in open areas. During our visit,
removed by the municipality human and we witnessed the official efforts of the city
technical resources. However, the technical council to rehabilitate a slum area known
status of the waste collection equipment’s as Darb El-Tabakhin, including removing
the accumulated solid waste and street The officials specified their need for
cleansing. establishing a new transfer station in the
city, taking into account its location, design,
Household waste is collected in 330 and operation to maximise the facility’s
collection bins, of 1.1 m3 capacities, effectiveness and efficiency, while minimising
distributed all over the city districts. The bins its impact on the community (Photos 18
are open from the front side to be emptied & 19). Moreover, they implied their need
manually and loaded to waste collection for small trucks for collecting the waste
trucks. There are also few but clean waste from low income residential areas that are
baskets on the lamp posts. No wastes were characterised by narrow streets.
accumulated around the waste collection
bins. However, the waste transportation The city garage and the maintenance and
trucks are not covered with plastic sheets repair workshop are clean. However, the
that might lead to waste spillage during workers do not wear uniforms and are not
transportation to the transfer station or any equipped with proper tools. They dump waste
other facility. oil in the nearest desert.
The collection workers are positioned in

three shifts. The first shift, 7.00 am – 2:00
pm, performs collection of MSW, street
cleansing and transportation of waste. The
second shift, 3:00 pm – 8:00 pm conduct
street cleansing, and the third one, 10:00 pm
– 2:00 am, collects the generated waste from
the markets and crowded places. About 6%
of the work force is working as supervisors
and inspectors to monitor the service
provided. They are provided with bicycles and
motorcycle for transportation; whereas the
general supervisor uses a vehicle.
Some NGOs participate in the collection

services in semi-urban areas around the
city. However, the officials complain as the
collected waste is dumped alongside the ring
road.
Currently, an open site in a residential

area, known as El-Mahlag land, is used
as a primitive transfer station. This site
is surrounded by an old fence and a
simple gate, some of its parts, however,
are demolished. Waste is openly dumped
there and illegally scavenged by informal
individuals without any health caution
or protection. No open burning of waste
was noticed; however wastes attract flies
and insects in contradiction of health and
environmental standards. The transfer
station is not equipped with fire fighting
system that might arise for any reason, and
Above: Photo 18 Transfer station at Markez Senuris,
cause additional health and environmental Fayoum Governorate
threat to area residents.
Down: Photo 19 Transfer station at Fayoum City
3 The maintenance and repair workshop is CDW are accumulated all the way along
in poor condition and needs upgrading, the village. However, the village looks
equipment’s and capacity building of the clean internally. No waste collection bins
staff. are present and the residents dump their
waste in open waste collection points to
Medical establishments have environmental be collected later. The collection service
registers and the generated hazardous is provided free of charge and the daily
medical waste is separated at source from generated waste is about 8 – 10 tonnes. The
other wastes inside these establishments, local unit uses a tractor, trailer, lauder and a
and incinerated. truck of 6 m3 to provide its service.
The frequency of waste collection service It is worthy to mention that NGOs play an
in Senuris city resembles that in the capital important role in providing waste collection
city. This is not the case for street cleansing. and transport in the Marakez of Fayoum
Litter is scattered around the collection Governorate, especially in the villages. They
bins, the main roads and in abandoned provide the collection service to households
areas. About 40 collection bins, of 2.0 m3 for a fee of 3-5 EGP per month. They collect
capacity, are distributed in the city. A daily the waste three times a week; however, their
shift provides the collection service. Waste functioning is relatively poor. The NGOs are
is frequently collected in low income areas in need of capacity building, awareness and
and accumulated waste was witnessed in few financial support to upgrade their equipment
cases. Supervision and management control and waste transportation trucks.
of the service is limited as compared with the
capital city. iv) Kalyobiya Governorate
Generally, the streets in Banha city, the
There is another waste transfer station capital, are not that clean and characterised
in Senuris city, where one small CAT with by waste accumulation everywhere. Open
excavation arrangements is operating; the burning of waste was noticed under the
waste storage facilities are also broken and entrance bridge to the city. The main streets
dirty. This situation amounts to a health are clean; however, waste is accumulated in
and environmental hazards to workers and the secondary streets’ corners. The residents
the nearby residential area as well. The openly dump their waste in the streets and
station’s area is about 1,500 m2, located waste is not collected on a regular base,
on a main road, beside watercourse and causing health and environmental hazards
agricultural land, without a fence or any basic to residents. Illegal dumping in open and
arrangements for fire fighting. The station abandoned areas is a common scene.
itself is a well-built concrete building with a
well to host waste left-over’s and a ceiling A limited number of waste collection bins
crane to lift the full left-over and load it are present in the city and most of them
over trucks to be emptied later in the public are broken; (Photo 20) whereas the waste
dumpsite. The station has an administration collection equipment’s are insufficient
office and works on two shifts. It was not that and technically poor. The waste collection
easy to sight waste picking in the station and trucks are not covered during the service
it was also difficult to identify if such picking which facilitates redistributing waste in
is conducted by the informal sector or the streets again during waste transportation.
municipality workers, since the workers don’t The waste collection workers, on the other
wear uniforms or protective wear. hand are unsatisfactory in number to take
care of the service provision in such a large
The local unit for Demo village and the city. The collection and street cleansing
associated 16 hamlets has a total population crew is comprised of 421 workers and
of about 20,000 citizens. The local unit 10 supervisors. The workers do not wear
conducts household waste collection, street uniforms or protective wear. The supervision
cleansing and transportation to an open and management control of the service is
dump, 5 km from the village. Dredging and relatively poor that explains the deprived
performance of waste collection and crowded, main and secondary streets look
cleansing services. The garage and the clean. Waste collection bins are not available
maintenance and repair workshop are in and residents dump their waste in waste
a subpar condition and needs upgrading, collection points. The daily generated waste
equipment’s and capacity building of the is about 100 tonnes. About 148 municipality
staff. workers and 15 supervisors provide the
collection and street cleansing services.
The condition in Toukh city is not different, The workers don’t wear uniforms or use
waste is accumulated in the street corners protective wear. On the other hand, overall
and open areas. On the other hand, since a fairly good waste collection and street
Kalyobiya Governorate is a rural Governorate, cleansing service provision was perceived.
it was noticed that a 5 km long couldal
dredging and cleaning waste is disseminated The city has an open transfer station of 400
alongside the road to the city. This furthers m2 area that lacks obligatory equipment’s. It
citizens to dump their household waste over contained a loader and a tractor with trailer.
it, in addition to the CDW as well. Some waste pickers were collecting the dry
waste in the station. The equipment’s in the
However, the condition in Shebin El Qanater city’s maintenance and repair workshop are
city is extremely different from that in Banha of moderate to good technical condition and
and Toukh. Although the city entrance is very somehow clean.
Above: Photo 20 A Fayoum Above: Photo 20 B Banha

Down: Photo 20 C Kafr El Sheikh Down: Photo 20 D Suez
3 A new open transfer station was established
The local unit of Astit village at Markez in Mahalet Rooh village on Tanta - Al Mahalla
Kafr Shukr includes 4 hamlets, with a total main road. The transfer station is located in
population of about 32,000 citizens. An NGO an agricultural area that would be a source of
employs eight collection workers to conduct air and underground water pollution.
household waste collection, street cleansing
and transportation of waste to Abo-Zaabal About 34 tractors with trailers and 9 trucks
controlled dumpsite, 60 km from the village. are used for waste collection; whereas
The NGO provides the households with 14 loaders and 12 trucks are used for
plastic collection bags, collects the waste the transportation of waste to El-Sadat
three times weekly, for a monthly fee of 8 landfill, about 120 km away. The Garage
EGP per household. They use two tractors and maintenance and repair workshop are
equipped with trailers, a loader and a truck not clean with poor equipment’s that needs
of 5 m3 to perform the job. The streets of upgrading. Moreover, they need to establish a
the village are fairly clean. However CDW is truck washing station.
present in any open area.
Public support for environmental issues is,
v) Al Gharbya Governorate nevertheless, severely tested whenever faced
Despite the large effort done for household with the prospect of a new transfer station,
waste collection, street cleansing and waste incinerator, landfill, or other waste facility
transportation, by the working force and the to be built adjacent to our live or work. It
official managers, Tanta is not that clean is at times like those when even the most
city. Dumped waste along the street sides public spirited citizens are likely to adopt the
is a common scene, especially in secondary principle of Not-In-My-Back-Yard (NIMBY)66.
streets. No waste collection bins exist all This might result in the project being blocked
through the city, except few ones in the or seriously delayed as the planners and
vicinity of the Governorate headquarter. plant operator’s deal with the oppositions of
Three shifts of workers are involved, the the local residents, environmentalists, and
first one, 7:00 am – 2:00 pm, performs any other parties who believe they will be
collection and street cleansing, the second, adversely affected by the proposed facility.
2:00 pm – 10.00 pm, conducts cleansing and Currently, the citizens of Al Mahalla Al Kubra
transportation of waste, and the third shift strongly oppose the presence of a transfer
performs cleansing of main streets. station at the entrance of their city, close
to a public hospital and a residential area.
The daily generated MSW is about 350 Moreover, CDW is scattered along the street
tonnes in Tanta city (the first and second sides in the city and in the main roads leading
districts). Each district comprises 10 zones. to it.
Zones are divided on the basis of their area,
population intensity, daily generated MSW The situation of MSW collection, street
and/or socio-economic settings. The number cleansing and waste transportation in
of workers and equipment’s serving each Samannoud city is worse than that of
zone is determined on basis of the former Tanta city. The daily generated waste is
parameters. The number of waste collection about 90 tonnes in the city. There are 283
and street sweeping workers is 96 with a workers providing waste collection and
deficiency reaching 40%. Two observers and street cleansing using 16 tractors equipped
one supervisor go along with each working with trailers and 35 trucks. Moreover, 5
shift in a zone. The workers wear a uniform loaders and 2 trucks are used for waste
and boots. transportation.
66. ISWA Working Group on Communication and Social Issues (2004), “The NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard Syndrome): A Survey of Expert Contributions”, ISWA
The local unit in El-Ameria, Markaz Al
Mahalla, consists of El-Ameria, El-Sigaea, The population of Beila city is about 75,314
Al-Dowakhlia and Denosher villages and citizens and they generated 60 tonnes/day of
48 hamlets of 10,304 feddan areas and a MSW, at the end of 2012. The level of waste
population of 64,930 citizens. The case of collection and street cleansing is to some
Al-Dowakhlia village perfectly reflects the extent less than that in the capital city of the
NIMBY principle. The residents of the village Governorate. Beila city is divided into 7 zones.
refused the presence of the compost plant The workers, equipment’s and vehicles are
and the accumulated SW there. As a result directed evenly to those zones.
of their demonstrations, the plant was shut
down and the accumulated waste was In Beila Markez, collection, street cleansing
removed. and transportation of MSW services are
conducted by the public sector using
El-Ameria village generates 5 tonnes/day 20 and 163 permanent and temporary
of MSW. An NGO handles waste collection, workers respectively, 6 supervisors and
street cleansing and transport of waste to 5 administrative staff. The fleet consists
Mahalat Rooh transfer station in Markez of 34 tractors with trailers, 4 loaders and
Tanta. The NGO employs 6 workers and 14 large trucks. However, its efficiency is
uses a tractor and trailer for collection. The poor. The officials designated their need for
collection service is conducted on a daily additional 2 loaders. The Garage is clean and
basis and they charge each household served the maintenance and repair workshop only
4 EGP. Despite the efforts done, waste is provides simple maintenance for the vehicles
dumped in the streets and watercourses. and equipment’s.
vi) Kafr El Sheikh Governorate The local unit in Abo Badawy consists of a
To some extent the total number of main village and 20 hamlets. The population
employees responsible for MSW collection, of the unit is about 20,000 inhabitants
street cleansing and waste transportation generating around 15 tonnes/day of solid
are 841, in the city, including 154 and waste. The collection, street cleansing
648 permanent and temporary workers, and waste transportation services are
respectively. Moreover, 26 supervisors provided by 7 workers, using 3 tractors and
keep an eye on the service, in addition to 2 trailers. There are 20 waste collection
13 administration staff. Street sweeping is bins in the village and the streets were very
conducted manually. Two daily shifts provide clean compared to other visited villages in
the services, 8:00 am – 2:00 pm and 2:00 pm the selected Governorates. The collected
– 8:00 pm. The collection workers don’t have waste is transported to the compost plant.
uniforms or protection wear. Moreover, two NGOs provide the service
in two of the hamlets, namely Alhema and
The system operates 73 tractors with trailers, Algazar, using 2 tractors and 2 trailers.
12 loaders, 19 small trucks and 15 large
ones. The efficiency of the equipment’s vii) Suez Governorate
scales between 30 - 40%. The collection Suez city streets are relatively clean. There
and transporting workers don’t use plastic are 750 iron waste collection bins of 1.3
covers on the vehicles during their trips. The m3 capacity and 40 bins of 2.4 m3 capacity
garage is clean although being crowded and that are mechanically lifted, in addition
the maintenance and repair workshop needs to 15 containers of 20 m3 capacity that
upgrading. are transferred by hawk lifts. The large
3
Transfer
containers are placed in high population
Stations
density sectors. It is rare to perceive neither
N.A
N.A
N.A
accumulated waste around the collection
containers nor litter or overflowing litter bins
in the city centre, along main roads or in
and use suitable
and use suitable
Lack of workers
Wear uniforms
Wear uniforms
popular places where people gather.
hand tools
hand tools
Collection
Workers
About 350 tonnes of MSW are daily generated
in Suez city. Illegal disposal of CDW is
clear on the road sides, apart from the city
centre. Open burning or illegal disposal of
household waste was not noticed in low
working conditions
income residential sectors. Waste collection
working out of ten
Lack of sufficient
Three trucks are
Transportation
and street cleansing services are conducted
Reflect good
on a daily basis, and the quality of services is
nearly similar in the different districts of the
Trucks
trucks
Waste
city.
About 475 workers participate in waste

collection and street sweeping. The service
the whole village

is monitored by 26 inspectors and 6
Nearly equal in
Nearly equal in
Nearly equal in
the whole city
the whole city

& Cleansing
supervisors. Moreover, 118 drivers provide
Collection
Coverage
waste transportation, under the supervision
of 3 staff. The workers wear uniforms and
boots.
The Cleansing and Beatification Authority
look clean
Cleansing
Regularly
Regularly
uses 105 equipment’s and vehicles for
The main
Streets’
cleaned
cleaned
streets
collection and transport of MSW, including
3 compactor trucks of 25 m3 capacities, 5
compactor trucks of 18 m3 capacity, 13 Small
tipper trucks, 26 mini trucks, 2 hawk lifts, 13 collection points in the
collection points in the
collection points in the

loaders and 4 tractors. The Agency provided
documentary evidence of appropriate service
Dumping waste in
Dumping waste in
Dumping waste in
Collection Mode
planning, delivery, monitoring, liaison

and feedback; and evidence for regular
supervision on the ground.
streets
streets
Table 18 provides a comparative analysis of streets

the municipal solid waste collection services
in the selected Governorates.
Waste Collection
administration
Responsibility
City council
City council
Collection
Local
unit
Qena city
Qoos city
Hegaza
Village
City or
village
Table 18 Comparative analysis of solid

waste collection services in the selected
Governorate
Governorates
Qena
Assiut Assiut city City council; Dumping waste in Regularly Streets in high In relatively good Not wearing N.A
except for East collection points in the cleaned income district condition but trucks uniforms
Assiut district, streets are cleaner than are not covered
a contractor is in lower ones
responsible
El Fateh City council Dumping waste in Regularly Nearly equal in In relatively good Not wearing N.A
city collection points in the cleaned the whole city condition but trucks uniforms
streets are not covered
El Zarabi Local Dumping waste in The Nearly equal in In relatively good Not wearing N.A
village administration collection points in the roads are the whole village condition but trucks uniforms
unit streets relatively are not covered
clean
Fayoum Fayoum city City council. Sufficient collection Regularly Equally In relatively good Wear uniforms A primitive
Some NGOs bins are available cleaned distributed in condition but trucks and use suitable transfer station
participate in high and low are not covered hand tools in a residential
collection in income districts area
semi-urban areas
Senuris city City council Accumulated waste Regularly Accumulated Trucks are not Not wearing A transfer station
around collection bins cleaned waste was covered uniforms exists.
observed in few
cases
Demo Local Dumping waste in Regularly Nearly equal in Trucks are not Not wearing N.A
village administration collection points in the cleaned the whole village covered uniforms
unit streets
Kalyobiya Banha city City council Limited number of Inade- Only main roads Trucks are not Not wearing N.A
bins. Dumping waste quate are clean covered uniforms
in streets cleaning
Shebin El City council Dumping waste in Main and Nearly equal in Trucks are not Not wearing Open transfer
Qanater city collection points in the secondary the whole city covered uniforms station
streets roads look
clean
Astit village NGO Door-to-door Regularly Main roads are Trucks are not Not wearing N.A
collection cleaned clean covered uniforms
3. Current Situation of Municipal Solid Waste Management — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013
81
82
3
Governorate City or Waste Collection
Village
Collection Collection Mode Streets’ Collection Waste Collection Transfer
Responsibility Cleansing & Cleansing Transportation Workers Stations
Coverage Trucks
Al Gharbya Tanta city Cleansing and Limited number of Not Only main roads Most of the trucks Wearing Open transfer
Beatification waste bins. Dumped adequately are clean are covered uniforms station in
Authority + city waste along the street cleaned Mahalet Rooh
council sides
Saman- City council Dumping waste in Poor Not proper Trucks are not Not wearing A transfer station
noud city collection points in the street covered uniforms turned to a huge
streets cleansing open dumpsite
El-Ameria NGO Dumped waste along Poor Not proper Trucks are not Not wearing Open transfer
village the street and couldal street covered uniforms station in
sides cleansing Mahalet Rooh
Kafr El Kafr El Cleansing and Insufficient number of Moderate- Nearly equal in Trucks are Not wearing N.A
Sheikh Sheikh city Beatification waste collection bins ly clean the whole city not covered. uniforms
Authority + city Transportation fleet
council efficiency about 40%
Beila city City council Collection bins are Moderate- Nearly equal in Trucks are Not wearing N.A
available ly clean the whole city not covered, uniforms
3. Current Situation of Municipal Solid Waste Management — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013
Transportation fleet
efficiency is poor
Abo Local Sufficient waste Regularly Nearly equal in Trucks are not Not wearing N.A
Badawy administration Collection bins cleaned the whole village covered uniforms
village unit
Suez Suez city Cleansing and Sufficient collection Regularly Equally Reflect good Wear uniforms N.A
Beatification bins are available cleaned distributed in working conditions and use suitable
Authority high and low hand tools
income districts
Summary of findings and recommendations successful in Qena, Fayoum, Kafr
- The public sector provides MSW El Sheikh and Suez Governorates;
collection, street sweeping and waste whereas being moderately to poor
transportation in the capital cities of the in Assuit, Al Gharbya and Kalyobiya
selected Governorates; Governorates;
- The responsibility of service planning, - A hot-line is used to receive citizen’s
delivery and monitoring is assigned complaints in Al Gharbya Governorate.
to: a SWM unit in Assiut Governorate; Moreover, citizens’ appreciation
Cleansing and Beatification Agencies of the development of household
in Al Gharbya, Kafr El Sheikh and Suez waste collection and street cleansing
Governorates; and local administration services is clear in Fayoum and Suez
in the Marakez and cities of Qena, Governorates;
Fayoum and Kalyobiya Governorates; - The lack of technical resources should
- The proportion of waste collected be considered. Suez Governorate has
in the capital cities of the selected a proper maintenance workshop.
Governorates might be more than 70 However, the other selected
- 80%, However, in other cities at the Governorates lack such facilities to a
Marakez, the figures are likely to be variable extent.
low; - The collection and street cleansing
- No waste collection bins or containers workers are generally provided with
are used in Qena and Assuit overalls and boots in the selected
Governorates. Few collection bins Governorates, except for Kalyobiya and
exist in Kalyobiya and Al Gharbya Kafr El Sheikh Governorates. Moreover,
Governorates and insufficient number social health insurance is available for
in Kafr El Sheikh Governorate. Adequate all the collection workers.
number of collection bins are available - The lack of skilled and trained human
in Fayoum, and Suez Governorates; resources should be considered
- In all the selected Governorates, street when planning improvements to
cleansing is performed manually, SWM. Moreover, capacity building
except for East Assiut district; programmes are needed for all the staff
- MSW collection points, used as open dealing with MSWM;
transfer systems, exist in residential - Despite of the regular collection and
districts in the capital cities of Fayoum, street cleansing, the quality of street
Kalyobiya and Al Gharbya Governorates; cleaning seems poor due to citizens’
- Traditional core areas of old cities and attitudes of random dumping of their
unplanned slum areas pose a particular household waste on roadsides and
problem for MSW collection because of waterways.
narrow access routes and lack of space - Some citizens regard the streets as an
for waste containers; appropriate place for dumping their
- A wide range of refuse vehicle types are domestic waste. Public education would
used in the selected Governorates. Two change this attitude. Moreover, the
dominant trends regarding the vehicles low level of environmental awareness
being used give cause for concern. among the public makes it difficult
The first relates to the use of outdated to implement household segregation
vehicles that are uneconomical and into two or more waste streams. The
inefficient. The second relates to the enforcement of legislation, will have
gradual replacement of obsolete refuse a significant impact on WM and is
vehicle fleets with modern compactor closely linked to public attitudes and
trucks that are unsuited for most awareness; and
applications; - Involving the public in the planning of
- In the selected Governorates, regular issues that affect them, such as the
supervision, of waste collection and type of collection service, the frequency
street cleansing exists on the ground. of collection, the provision and location
However, the supervision system is of storage containers is essential.
3
3.3 Waste Treatment and Disposal
Disposal of MSW denotes to the ‘different The compost plant occupies an area of 16
treatments that are run through the waste feddan and is surrounded by a steel mesh
to avoid environmental and health hazards’. fence. The number of workers is 40 and
Success of SWM is directly related to 8 supervisors and drivers. The available
the disposal efficiency. Disposal involves equipment’s and transportation vehicles
planning, administrative set up, finance, therein are: a sorting line, a sieve, a
technology support and their interdisciplinary shredder, 2 balers, 3 front loaders, 4 tractors,
relationships. The imperative aspect of this 4 trucks and a water wagon. In addition to
stage is the selection of the most proper un-sanitarily working conditions, most of the
disposal technology. To dispose waste in workers do not wear uniforms or use any
efficient way technology knowledge, trained protective wear.
manpower, appropriate infrastructure and
availability of land is urgently obliged. The separated plastics, cardboard, metal and
textiles are pressed in bales, except glass
The disposal of solid waste is challenging. which is stored in woven plastic bags, and
This problem lasts to grow parallel to occasionally sold in auctions. The compost
population and industrialisation growth. plant manager stated that the workers daily
Disposal of waste in uncontrolled dumps separate about 50 kg of plastics and 250 kg
has become repetitive in the majority of of cardboard. These small amounts of the
Governorates. An evaluation of waste separated items confirm poor separation
treatment and disposal in the selected of dry recyclables. Moreover, he pointed
Governorates is given below. out that the manufactured compost is sold
for only 50 LE/tonne as the farmers are not
i) Qena Governorate willing to buy it. The low price of the compost
Street scavengers carry out sorting of might be an indicator for its poor quality.
household waste dumped in the streets of
the capital city. They separate and collect The access road to the uncontrolled
a fraction of the dry portion (plastic, paper, dumpsite is not paved. Solid waste is
glass, metals and textile) of the waste. accumulated on both sides of the road that
Moreover, they collect some recyclables in is also not lighted. Therefore, the dumpsite
the uncontrolled dumpsite. operations are limited to the day-light
working shifts only. This is not the only
About 40 – 50 tonnes of the collected waste, operational problem that faces the dumpsite,
by municipal workers, are directed to the but it also lacks the equipment’s required
compost plant, operated by the public for covering the incoming waste (e.g. shovel
sector, 7 km out of the city (Photo 21). The loaders or bulldozers). Open burning of waste
remaining MSW is transported directly to an is a common scene there and fire fighting
uncontrolled dumpsite. The distance from equipment’s are not available. No mitigative
the city to the dumpsite is about 65 km. measures exist for controlling greenhouse
emissions. The open burning of waste could
The access road to the compost plant in Qena be attributed not only to the waste self-
city is fairly good; however, the plant was out igniting process - that might probably happen
of commission at the time of our visit and during summer - but also to man-made fire
needs massive repairs. Large quantities of around the dumpsite. The dumpsite is not
solid waste were surrounding compost plant. secured by a fence, and the farmers might be
The MSW received in the plant is manually trying to extend their activities to parts of the
segregated and the dry recyclables are nominal area of the dumpsite. The farmers
separated. The residual waste is transported are using drip irrigation network around and
to the dumpsite. somehow inside the dumpsite location. This
will – by time – cause soil and ground water
pollution, and negatively affect the quality of health conditions are poor.
farmers’ life and the produced crops as well.
For Markez Qoos, the generated mixed
In the dumpsite, no records are carried MSW is openly dumped in an uncontrolled
out for the incoming mixed waste volumes, dumpsite, of 167 feddan areas, 5 km outside
weights and/or categories. There is a the city of Qoos. The access road to the site
lack of permitting/licensing procedures, is unpaved and not lighted, and there are no
environmental monitoring, inspection definite borders to the dumpsite area. The
and verification. Similarly, the facility dumpsite faces an unavailability of workers
lacks management control in planning, and equipment’s. Open burning of the waste
implementation and monitoring services. is detected. The situation of Qoos dumpsite is
The workers don’t use uniforms or protective identical with that discussed previously.
wear. Both the working environment and
A B
C D
Photo 21 The compost

plants in (a) Qena, (b)
Assiut, (c) Abu Zaabal,
(d) Tanta, (e) Beila and
(f) Suez
E F
3 ii) Assiut Governorate Generally, MSW generated from the 11
Waste pickers and scavengers are active Marakez of Assiut Governorate is transported
in Assiut city. They sort the MSW in the city and finally disposed in 10 uncontrolled
streets and the dumpsite, collecting the dumpsites. The access roads and the
dry recyclables. Recycling of MSW in Assiut conditions of the dumpsites are similar to
Governorate is restricted to composting that mentioned above for the uncontrolled
of organic waste and recycling of paper/ dumpsite in Bani Ghaleb. During our visit, we
cardboard. observed self-ignition dumpsites in El Fath
and Abu Tig.
The compost plant in Bani Ghaleb, at a
distance of about 17 km from Assiut city, was Moreover, there is a controlled dumpsite
established in 1998 and occupies an area serving El Zaraby village alone, but the
of 38 feddans. The plant is located in a dirty uncontrolled dumpsite of Markaz Abu Tig as
area, bordered by a CDW and the working a whole lies at about 1 km far from it. This
conditions inside the plant are poor. The indicates that a better planning for MSWM is
plant is walled by a fence. The received mixed essential.
MSW is manually sorted to separate plastics,
cardboard, glass, metals and textiles. The Iii) Fayoum Governorate
plant was designed to operate two shifts daily Scavengers are active in sorting and
with production capacity 10 tonnes / hour. collecting dry recyclables from the open
However the plant is operating now with collection points, transfer station and the
50% of its production efficiency, although its uncontrolled dumpsites in the Governorate.
technical resources are fairly good.
The compost plant in El-Adwa, Fayoum
El-Hadi plant was established in 1977, on Markez has not been functioning for more
an area of 2 feddan, in Ezbet Al-Nasiriyah, than 10 years now.
at El-Fath Markez. The raw material used
in the plant is waste paper segregated The generated MSW in the Governorate is
from the MSW generated in Assuit city and transported to uncontrolled open dumps.
surrounding cities. The plant produces 2.5 The dumpsite of Fayoum city, located in New
tonnes/day of multi-layered grey cardboard Fayoum beside the Western Cairo – Assuit
that is marketed in Cairo. road, occupies an area of 60 feddans and the
transportation distance is about 30 km (Photo
The reject waste from El-Hadi plant is 22). The access road to the site is lighted. The
transported to an uncontrolled dumpsite condition of the dumpsite is like that in Qena
in the Eastern Mountain located about Governorate.
25 km far from El-Fath city. Whereas,
the rejected waste from the compost The new controlled dumpsite in Kom Oshim
plant, about 60% of the incoming waste is a little bit modern, where the access road
is transported to an uncontrolled open is wide and paved, and is surrounded by
dumpsite beside the plant in Bani Ghaleb. a fence and gate. It also has a loader and
The access road to the dumpsite is unpaved equipped with a weighing bridge, electric
and generally unsuitable to accommodate generator, shelter for the equipment’s,
waste transportation trucks. The area of the guiding signs and an administration
dumpsite is 24 feddan and is not surrounded building. This dump is working 24 hours/
by a fence. Many private land reclamation day and the fence is equipped with lamps
activities are going around it. Open yet they’re not functioning. There is a
burning practices are common. Absence controlled landfill consisting of one lined
of management and supervision from the active cell for the disposal of the residues
municipality was noticed during our visit. ‘ash’ resulting from hazardous medical
waste incineration. However, the municipal
waste is not compacted or even covered with iv) Kalyobiya Governorate
soil or any other inert material, as there is Scavengers collect the recyclable items from
no bulldozer that makes waste in a direct household waste dumped in the streets,
contact with ambient air leading to possible collection points and the controlled open
health and environmental hazards. It is dump in Abu Zaabal. The compost plant in
worth mentioning that the dumpsite has Abu Zaabal was established in 2009 but is
no access to water, which explains the use not functioning. The plant manager indicated
of soil to combat any fire that might arise. that it is not operating due to problems in the
Moreover, the weigh bridge is not operating production line.
due to the breakdown of its computer. Many
equipment’s and spare parts were stolen
from the dumpsite during the January, 2011
revolution time.
The dumpsite is used for the disposal of

the MSW generated in Senuris and Tamiya
Marakez. 13 workers and 4 private individual
waste scavengers work in the dumpsite
without wearing any personal protective
equipment’s. The dumpsite’s original area
is 17 feddans, with 100 Feddans for future
extension, and receives 180 tonnes/day of
MSW.
Two more uncontrolled open dumpsites exist

in the Governorate. The first in Kasr El-Basel
is used for the disposal of MSW generated
in Itsa Markez. The second in Hanna Habib A
serves Ebshway and Yousef El-Seddeek
Marakez.
The situation of all the dumpsites in the

Governorate is similar to that in Qena
Governorate.
Photo 22 The
dumpsites in (a) Qena,
(b) Assiut, (c) Fayoum,
(d) Abu Zaabal, (e)
Samannoud and (f)
Suez
C D
3 The road to the main dumpsite for Kalyobiya
and part of Cairo Governorate, in Abu Zaabal,
is unpaved and not lighted. Large amounts
of waste are accumulated on both sides
of the road and sometimes on the road
itself. The dumpsite is rented to a private
contractor who pays 21,000 LE/month for
manual sorting of waste and collection of
dry recyclables. Waste scavengers don’t
wear any personal protective equipment’s.
The sources of transported waste to this
dumpsite are Kalyobia municipalities, private
companies and contractors, and waste
collectors. The dumpsite accepts almost E
all types of waste; municipal, industrial and
CDW.
The dumpsite is the largest septic focus of

the whole area around. It is established over
an old quarry and the nearby ground water
is rising up. It is located close to Ismailia
irrigation coudal that is used as a source of
potable water for Kalyobiya Governorate, and
this might lead to water pollution.
The shovel loader and bulldozer are working

well in the dumpsite. The dusty environment
is a real problem, in addition to the presence
of insects, flies and other rodents. Dogs F
and even sheep are found inside the dump
working area (or work face). Waste is spread
first by the loader before being covered
directly by soil. Waste alum powder (used in
the water treatment plants) is used as a final
cover to the disposed waste
The planning, organisation, management and

engineering of the site are poor. The system
lacks environmental monitoring, inspection,
and verification.
Box 11 The informal sector activities in Ezbet El-Nawar, El-Zarayb, El-Khossos,
While several private waste collection companies to fine particles to be used for producing new plastic
operate in Cairo, the traditional waste-collectors bags; and 27 for Pelletizing that use finely crushed
(zabaleen) from the poorer neighbourhoods interpose or agglomerated plastic wastes, remove impurities
most significantly to waste collection. and transform them into pellets ready to be used
for different plastic products. Moreover, there are 4
The zabbaleen living in El-Zarayb neighbourhood plastic film making small plants for the manufacture
collect around 700 tons of household waste on a daily of plastic garbage bags, 3 plastic mats production
basis from the Eastern zone of Cairo Governorate and plants, a shoes insole production plant; and two
some areas in El-Khossos. The collected waste is plastic shoes and slippers production plants.
sorted for dry recyclables such as plastics, paper and
cardboard, metals, textiles and bones. GIZ is supporting Kalyobia Governorate since 2010,
through the Participatory Development Programme
Currently, there are about 256 warehouses, in Urban Areas (PDP), to develop integrated
workshops and small recycling plants that receive community-based waste management in two cities,
and process the sorted recyclables in El-Zarayb and El-Khosoos and El-Khanka. The project includes
Ezbet El-Nawar. The warehouses include about: 110 an analysis of the current waste collection system,
for plastics; 22 for paper and cardboard; 24 for scrap separation and recycling, in addition to developing a
metals; 7 for glass; 9 for textiles; and one for bones. solid waste management strategy that emphasises
the role of the informal sector. The Bill and Melinda
Plastic workshops include: 7 for plastic washing; 33 Gates Foundation have provided a grant of US$5.3
for crushing; 6 for agglomeration of used plastic bags million towards the project.
In March 2013, Kalyobia Governorate, GIZ and waste collectors and recyclers who will work
Ecocem - a subsidiary company of Lafarge on separating recyclable materials such as
Group - signed a cooperation agreement that plastics and metals.
will address some of the WM problems in
the Governorate, find alternative solutions to Ecocem will provide technical support
the growing energy crisis facing industries for the operation of the RDF processing
in Egypt and build a new value chain for line. Part of the revenues generated from
the local communities67. This cooperation the sale of RDF will be reinvested by the
is a good example of public and private Governorate to enhance the waste collection
organisations joining efforts to work together and transportation systems in the cities of
on finding solutions to Egypt’s environmental Khosoos and Khanka. This agreement will
problems, while at the same time enhancing also entail the cooperation between Ecocem-
economic opportunities for poor urban Lafarge and GIZ in conducting research
populations. on the use of RDF, initiating stakeholder
consultations as well as dissemination of
This cooperation agreement builds on technical knowledge. This will for the most
the existing partnership between GIZ and part be done in cooperation with the National
Kalyobia Governorate to rehabilitate an old Solid Waste Management Programme
recycling facility. Within this context, a new (NSWMP).
processing line to produce Refuse Derived
Fuel (RDF) from waste materials – that v) Al Gharbiya Governorate
might be used as an alternative source Waste pickers in Al Gharbiya Governorate
of fuel in cement factories – will be built. perform the same job as in Kalyobiya
This facility will establish more than 50 job Governorate.
opportunities while also benefiting informal
67. URL: http://egypt-urban.net/ecocem-lafarge-and-giz-agree-to-pilot-new-waste-management-solutions-for-egypt
3 About 1,200 tonnes/day of the generated The site has a proper entrance gate and
MSW in the Governorate is transported to the incoming waste transportation vehicles
the compost plant, located in Defra, Tanta are weighed. The facility uses a loader and
Markez. The capacity of the compost plant three trucks for soil transportation, each of
reaches 320 tonnes/day at the time being, 20 cubic meter capacity. However, the site
the plant is working with 30 – 40% efficiency. lacks the presence of a maintenance and
The quantities of remaining untreated MSW repair workshop. Scavenging activities are
and the plant rejected waste are about prohibited.
1,000 tonnes/day accumulated besides the
plant forming a plateau of about 20 meters The infrastructure of the landfill is in place,
height, despite about 1,100 tonnes of MSW disposed waste is compressed and daily
is transported daily from the Governorate to covered in the cells and a system for leachate
El-Sadat landfill. containment collection is in place. However,
the landfill system lacks surface and ground
The access road to the compost plant is water monitoring, and collection and venting
paved; the plant is walled by a fence and of landfill gas.
occupies an area of 5 feddans. The incoming
waste transportation vehicles are weighed An environmental impact assessment
at the entrance of the plant. The quality study was conducted before the landfill
of the produced compost is reasonable. construction. EEAA provided the necessary
The workers neither wear a uniform nor permitting/licensing for the facility and
use personal protective equipment’s. No conducts regular environmental monitoring
environmental monitoring, inspection or and inspection. Fire fighting equipment’s
verification is regularly conducted by any are available. Appropriate service planning,
independent organization. delivery and feedback evidences are
accessible. The workers wear uniforms
The formed open dump, beside the compost and boots, and are aware of safe operating
plant, exists in an agricultural area and poses procedures.
the serious health, safety and environmental
threats. i.e., fire and explosion; inhalation of Moreover, a new compost plant has been
toxic gases; injury to workers and scavengers established in El-Sadat landfill and its
working on or around the dumpsite; operation is expected to commence shortly.
contamination of soil and groundwater; The proposed production capacity of the plant
dissemination of diseases initiated by is 450 tonnes / day.
mosquitoes, flies and rodents; and decrease On the other hand, the uncontrolled
in the quality of life to nearby residents and dumpsite in Samannoud city represents the
the local community. Moreover, the present worst case of municipal solid waste disposal
situation exhibits public nuisance, diverts facilities in Egypt. The accumulated waste in
of land from more productive uses and the site appears as a large plateau, about 30
depresses the value of surrounding land. meters high, and the waste are permanently
on fire. At the site, there are no recording or
Due to limited land availability in the inspection of incoming waste, no control of
Governorate, a controlled-landfill was waste placement, no compaction of waste,
established in El-Sadat, about 120 km from and no application of soil cover. Despite the
Tanta, the capital city of the Governorate. eternity of fire in the site, scavengers are
The landfill area is 100 feddans, including 12 active, and vermin, dogs and birds are within
cells, each is 5 feddans and with a capacity the nearby.
of 375,000 cubic meters of MSW. At the time
being, five of the cells are already filled. The The Samannoud dumpsite is located in an
landfill contains a leachate collection system; agricultural area and is about 500 m from a
however, no gas collection system has yet residential area. The neighbouring residents
been installed. suffer from the continuous emission of
smoke and air pollutants. An emergency
The access road to the landfill is paved; the plan has to be implemented for closing or
site is lighted and surrounded by a fence. upgrading this site.
vi) Kafr El Sheikh Governorate Authority confirmed the need for improving
Waste picking of the dry portion of MSW is a the production efficiency of the existing
widespread practice in the Governorate. production line in the compost plant and
the add-on of a new production line. The
Two compost plants exist in Kafr El Sheikh produced compost is of good quality.
Governorate in Beila and Sidi Salem
Marakez. Both plants are leased to the The workers wear uniforms and boots
private sector and the plants’ production and use personal protective equipment’s.
efficiencies are 50 and 15%, respectively. The Moreover, there is documented evidence
officials in the Governorate indicated their of appropriate service planning, delivery,
need to upgrade both plants and to establish monitoring and feedback in the plant.
two additional ones in Tal El-Dabaa and Tal
Om-Gafaar. However, the Governorate’s Moreover, a processing line for the
previous experience deep-rooted the failure production of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF)
of their officials’ in managing the existing from waste materials is acquainting within
plants and thus rented it to the private sector the composting plant. The processing line is
and suffered from many sever problems. operated and managed by Lafarge Group.
The access road to Beila compost plant A controlled landfill, now functioning as
is paved and a fence surrounds it. The a controlled dumpsite, is used for MSW
generated MSW in Beila Markez and disposal. It is located 10 km from Suez city
surrounding areas is entirely transferred centre, with a total area of 104,000 square
to the plant. The plant receives about 300 meters. The access road is paved, clean and
tonnes/day of MSW, 200 tonnes of which are lighted. However, it is not surrounded by a
daily rejected and sent to a dumpsite, and fence. The incoming waste transportation
produces about 50 tonnes/day of compost. vehicles are weighed at its entrance.
The plant is rented for 35,000 LE/month.
Scavengers exist inside the plant, working Scavengers are working in the site. The
in the reception area of the waste. The plant waste is placed in designated areas,
works one shift, 7:00 am – 5:00 pm, and compacted and irregularly covered. No
employs 8 workers. The workers don’t wear fires were noticed in the site. Incoming
uniforms and don’t use personal protective waste volumes, weights and categories are
equipment’s. The quality of the produced registered. The site lacks leachate collection
compost is fair. The environmental condition and landfill gas collection and treatment
is poor inside the plant. system. There is documented evidence of
appropriate service planning, delivery and
vii) Suez Governorate feedback. The workers wear boots and
Similar to the other Governorates, uniforms.
scavengers act upon segregation and
collection of dry recyclable waste from the Assessment of composting plants in Egypt
waste collection bins and landfill. In most Governorates of Egypt, the solid
waste stream is characterized with a
The compost plant in Suez city occupies high organic content. The combination of
an area of 16,470 square meters. The high organic content, low labour costs,
access road to the plant is paved and it is and the need for desert reclamation and
surrounded by a fence. The incoming waste soil conditioning rendered composting a
transportation vehicles are weighed at the desirable alternative that should be cared
entrance of the plant. The inner roads in about for the treatment of solid waste in
the plant are clean and the environmental Egypt. At the time being many Egyptians
conditions are good. are aware of health threats associated with
the escalating application of high rates
The plant capacity is 160 tonnes/day and with of chemical fertilisers and a conspicuous
poor production efficiency. The Executive move towards ‘biological products is gaining
Director of Cleansing and Beatification momentum.
3 Introduction of composting plants started costs and ultimately financial losses.
with few numbers of imported plants through
international loans from the World Bank (e.g. Since their introduction in the late nineties,
the Swiss-made plant in Shoubra, another the composting facilities experienced
in Shata Damietta which is still operating enduring problems that could be categorised
with lesser capacity, and the British one in the following:
which was located in Abis area in Alexandria
and called Abis 1. There is another facility i) Technical: More or less all of the
donated to Egypt through JICA and is still composting plants are manufactured
operating in Alexandria. locally through the military factories and
the Egyptian Industrialisation Authority. The
The department of the semi-industrial ???? facilities that were built by the first one are
at the Academy of Scientific Research and poorly designed, and poorly finished as there
Technology stepped into the market with a are many technical problems incorporated
pilot plant in Zagazig / SharKia Governorate. in the design and manufacturing, lead to
The Government of Egypt, through a quick technical problems that need frequent
USAID fund has established a national repair with high cost of spare parts. The
program to build 50 composting plants all original design has not been changed or
over Egypt through the Ministry of Military improved since the first version. Most of
Production factories. ENTAG, a private SWM the current plants face real technically
management company established close oriented problems and are not addressed
cooperation with the military production for technical reasons such as the repeatedly
factories and was successful in forming a and frequent damage, break and disturbance
technology / manufacturing alliance where of the main components of the plant, and
several plants were made and installed. the unavailability of the spare parts on time
in addition to the lack of technical skills
Current situation of implemented facilities among the plant operators. Moreover, there
Composting in Egypt faces certain challenges are other non-technical reasons that will be
in achieving a successful operation. The high addressed in the following levels.
percentage of rejects might be attributed to
the design of production lines in addition to ii) Organisational: The organisational
the reasons mentioned above. It could be structure of composting plants in Egypt is
a result of combination of factors among varying from one governorate to the other.
them, design of machines, inappropriate Sometimes it belongs to the city manager
waste intake, and lack of monitoring the or the secretary general according to the
fermentation process. Design of good number and importance of the plant to the
production lines that provide high quality governorate. The staff is selected from the
finished product and minimise environmental mechanical fleet and most of the time was
pollution is on top of the challenges. not trained enough to take care of the plant
operation and most important to plant repair
In Egypt, it is fair to conclude that one of and maintenance. This is another reason for
the top challenges faced by composting the repeatedly disturbance that might occur
programs is the provision of trained to such plants.
management and technical staff for running
the composting facilities. This is particularly iii) Financial: The plants were built to
in the new facilities being built. Furthermore, cope with the waste generated in their
the role of the private sector as a partner to surrounding cities and governorates, as
the public sector in operating the facilities a service facility (i.e. non-for-profit). This
to the benefit of the communities served is means that the original feasibility studies for
weak. In sum, many technical problems and these plants did not take care of depreciation
poor management led to higher production cost as part of the overall costs that the
plants operators should bear. Therefore, environmental and health conditions of most
and in the most successful case, a compost (if not all) of these plants are miserable.
plant could hardly cover its direct operational This includes, but not limited to the illegal
costs with some gross profit, but for sure dump of rejects around the plant’s area that
the financial cash flow will show deficit when attracts flies and rodents, the unavailability
depreciation figures are added. of protecting gears to labourers whom use
their bare hand in waste sorting and are
The typical governmental/public monetary subjected to every health hazardous. Litter
document cycle is longer that a compost is scattered around the production lines
plant manager to bear in order to procure – and fence area from outside and inside,
in a very short time – a necessary spare part. the unavailability of emergency plans
This, in addition to the same cycle for selling technically, environmentally and health wise
the secondary materials is applicable. to take care of any problem promptly and/or
professionally.
Composting plants are erected based on
a personal request from a governor to the b) Social: People are not well aware about
relevant authority (here is the Ministry of the the availability of composting plants in their
Local Development/Administration, and in cities and governorates, the role of these
close coordination with the Ministry of State plants in waste recycling and minimisation in
for Environmental Affairs). This, most of the specific and on protecting the environment
time lacks the necessary economic studies in general, and the value of these plants.
relevant to the availability of a local market to This diminishes their understanding to this
compost, the market prices of compost and issue in general and the public efforts on
secondary material, the cost of waste tipping tackling waste management problems that
and transportation to the plant, the distance lead to the minimum public support to the
to the nearest landfill/dumpsite, the amount governmental efforts and so willingness to
of waste generated in the plant’s area (where participate and pay for these services.
a good number of the plants are under
operation where the amount of incoming Finally, a comparative analysis of municipal
waste is much lesser than the nominal solid waste treatment and disposal services
capacity of the plant. This is, in addition to in the selected Governorates is given in Table
other elements such as the availability of 19.
skilled labourers.
a) Environmental: All the plants should have

a permission from the Central Department
of Environmental Impact Assessment
(belongs to the Egyptian Environmental
Affairs Agency – EEAA), before they are
erected. However, on the other hand, the
Table 19 Comparative analysis of solid

waste treatment and disposal services
in the selected Governorates
3
Governorate City or Waste Treatment and Disposal
Village
Waste Pickers Compost Plant Other Recycling Disposal Facility
Facilities
Management Production Compost Workers Uncontrolled Controlled Landfill
Efficiency Quality Dumpsite Dumpsite
Qena Qena city Collect dry recyclables Public sector The plant -- Do not -- ✓ -- --
from collection points needs massive wear
in the streets and repair uniforms
dumpsites
Qoos city Collect dry recyclables -- -- -- -- -- ✓ -- --
from collection points
in the streets and
dumpsites
Hegaza Collect dry recyclables -- -- -- -- -- ✓ -- --
village from dumpsites
Assiut Assiut city Collect dry recyclables Public sector 50% Medium Do not -- ✓ -- --
from collection points wear
in the streets and uniforms
dumpsites
El Fateh city Collect dry recyclables -- -- -- -- Waste paper ✓ -- --
from collection points recycling plant
in the streets and (at Ezzbat El-
dumpsites Nasseria) produces
2.5 ton/day of
multi-layered grey
cardboard
El Zarabi Collect dry recyclables -- -- -- -- -- -- ✓ --
Fayoum Fayoum city Collect dry recyclables -- Not functioning -- -- -- ✓ -- --

from collection bins, for more than
transfer stations and 10 years
dumpsites
Senuris city Collect dry recyclables -- -- -- -- -- -- ✓ --
from collection bins,
transfer stations and
dumpsites
Demo Collect dry recyclables -- -- -- -- -- ✓ -- --
Kalyobiya Banha city Collect dry recyclables -- Not functioning -- -- Remarkable -- ✓ --
from collection points in since informal recycling
the streets and dumpsite establishment activities in
in 2009 El-Khososs and
El-Khanka
Shebin El Collect dry recyclables -- -- -- -- -- ✓ --
Qanater city from collection points in The Governorate,
the streets and dumpsite GIZ and Lafarge
Astit village Collect dry recyclables -- -- -- -- signed agreement -- ✓ --
from dumpsite to build a
processing line for
RDF
Al Gharbya Tanta city Collect dry recyclables Public sector 30 - 40% Medium Do not -- ✓ -- ✓
from bins, collection wear
points in the streets and uniforms
transfer station
Samannoud Collect dry recyclables -- -- -- -- -- ✓ -- ✓
city from bins, collection
points in the streets,
transfer station and
dumpsite
El-Ameria Collect dry recyclables -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
village from the, transfer
stations
Kafr El Kafr El Collect dry recyclables -- -- -- -- -- ✓ -- --

Sheikh Sheikh city from bins, collection
points in the streets and
dumpsites
Beila city Collect dry recyclables Private sector 35% Good Not -- ✓ -- --
from bins, collection quality wearing
points in the streets uniforms
dumpsites, compost plant
and dumpsites
Abo Badawy Collect dry recyclables Private sector 35% Good Not -- ✓ -- --
village the compost plant and quality wearing
dumpsites uniforms
Suez Suez city Collect dry recyclables Public sector 30% Good Wearing The reject -- ✓ --
from bins and dumpsites quality uniforms of compost
plant used to
manufacture RDF
3 Summary of findings and recommendations located in El-Sadat, about 120 km from
- Scavengers actively perform household the capital city of the Governorate.
waste segregation and collection of dry The waste transportation vehicles use
recyclables from waste collection points narrow roads to reach the landfill. The
in the streets, collection bins, transfer location of the landfill sets a financial
stations, and open and controlled and effort burden on the Governorate.
dumpsites. The officials stated their need to
- Most of the visited compost plants upgrade the existing composting
are out of order or work with poor plants and to establish additional ones,
production efficiency. to lessen the quantity of waste to be
- The compost plants are managed and transported to the landfill.
operated by the public sector, except for - The two worst cases of waste
Kafr El Sheikh Governorate, that leases disposal facilities are in Al Gharbiya
its two compost plants to the private Governorate’s uncontrolled dumpsites
sector. in Tanta and Samannoud. They pose
- The quality of the produced compost is serious environmental, health and fire
generally poor, as the raw material is a hazards; urgent action is needed.
mixed MSW. - An open dump cleanup project has
- The common disposal technique to be implemented in the whole
utilises uncontrolled dumpsites that Governorates to close the open dumps,
pose major environmental and health clean up waste on the land, and develop
risks. safe solid waste disposal practices
- Al Gharbiya Governorate’s landfill is using sanitary landfills.
3.4 Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (3Rs)

Reduce; reuse and recycling bear an environmental devastation;
imperative stand in the waste management - Reduced deforestation;
hierarchy. Waste materials should be - Conservation of resources, energy and
separated at source as much as possible to water;
improve the quality of materials for reuse and - Provision of income and employment;
recycling (including organics for composting), - Availability of affordable products for
to reduce energy use in collection, and to the poor; and
improve working conditions at all stages. - Employment/income generation.
This will profit also those earning a living
from waste recovery23. Waste reduction at source implies
minimising material and energy consumption
In addition, the hierarchy promotes the including reduction in use of toxic/hazardous
recovery – through reuse, recycling, substances. Reducing material/energy
composting – of as many waste materials as intensity in production and consumption
possible before disposal or incineration23. of goods and services has been widely
Reuse and recycling reduce the amount of acknowledged as a preferred approach
materials requiring collection and disposal by many international organisations and
that means: national governments. Some examples are;
- Longer lifetimes for landfills; more UNEP/UNIDO Cleaner Production approach,
capacity for waste in other kinds of China’s circular economy approach, Japan’s
treatment facilities; sound material recycling society and 3R
- Lower transportation and landfill costs; approach, EU’s waste prevention and
- More reliable and local supply of raw recycling strategy.
materials to local industries, avoiding
using foreign exchange and import Waste Prevention
procedures; Waste prevention is given the highest
- Reduced extraction of non-renewable priority in ISWM. This is a preventive action
raw or virgin materials and associated that seeks to reduce the amount of waste
that individuals, businesses and other refurbishing. Reusing materials and products
organisations generate. By not generating saves energy and water, reduces pollution,
waste, fewer collection vehicles and a and lessens society’s consumption of natural
fewer number of refuse collectors would be resources compared to the use of single-use
needed; fewer and smaller waste handling products and materials.
facilities would be required, and it would
extend the life of the landfills. Society as Reuse of materials and products is regarded
a whole would benefit from a successful as more socially desirable than recycling
implementation of any waste prevention the same materials. Cardboard boxes
program. that are used for shipping products, for
example, could be folded and sent back to
There are several ways in which waste the manufacturer to be reused for shipping
generation could be prevented 68: the same or other products. Beverage bottles
- By empowering public policies that could be disposable, returnable (reusable) or
discourage the production, sale and recyclable. Reusable bottles have the lowest
consumption of products containing environmental impact of the three.
unnecessary packaging material;
- By empowering public policies that Even though private companies have
discourage the production, sale and created reuse programs on their own, if
consumption of disposable products; public policies existed to promote it, reuse
- By empowering public policies that could dramatically increase. Public policies
encourage the production, sale and that provide incentives for businesses and
consumption of reusable or recyclable individuals to engage in reuse could have
products; a significant and positive economic and
- By empowering public policies that environmental impact.
encourage the production, sale and
consumption of long-lasting products Recycling
(which do not have to be discarded often); Recycling is the recovery of materials
- By empowering public policies that for melting them, re-pulping them and
promote the consumption of large-size reincorporating them as raw materials. It is
products. The amount of packaging technically feasible to recycle a large amount
material –plastics, glass or metal– of materials, such as plastics, wood, metals,
needed to contain a kilogram or liter glass, textiles, paper, cardboard, rubber,
of a product decreases as the size of a ceramics, and leather. Besides technical
product increases. For instances, larger feasibility and know how, demand determines
bottles and containers require less the types and amounts of materials that are
material per unit of product than the recycled in a particular region. Areas with
smaller ones. When they are discarded, a diversified economy and industrial base
they result in less waste that needs to be usually demand more different types of raw
collected, transported and disposed of; materials that could be recycled.
- By empowering public policies that
encourage the production, sale and Recycling could render social, economic,
consumption of repairable products (that and environmental benefits. It provides an
do not have to be discarded when they income to the informal sector that recovers
malfunction); and recyclable materials. Factories that consume
- By minimising the weight of products. recyclable materials could be built for a
Public policies could encourage the fraction of the cost of building plants that
production, sale and consumption of consume raw materials. Recycling saves
light-weight products (which, when energy, water, and generates less pollution
discarded, would result in a reduction of than obtaining raw materials that translate
the weight of the waste to be collected, into lower operating costs. Recycling also
transported and disposed off). reduces the amount of wastes that need
to be collected, transported and disposed
Reuse off, and extends the life of disposal facilities
Reuse consists of the recovery of items to be that saves money to the municipalities.
used again, perhaps after some cleaning and Recycling could result in a more competitive
68. Martin Medina (2011), “Globalization, Development, and Municipal Solid Waste Management in Third World Cities”, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Tijuana,
Mexico
3 economy and a cleaner environment, and the dumped waste in the streets, collection
could also contribute to a more sustainable bins, collection points, transfer stations and
development. dumpsites.
If the Integrated Solid Waste Management Understanding, acknowledging, and if

Sector (ISWMS) decides to adapt an ISWM possible, incorporating informal waste
approach, a waste prevention programme workers into new ways of delivering
has to be developed and implemented, improved services are a sustainable way out.
followed by promoting the reuse of products Cooperation with and support of the informal
and materials, and then recycling comes recycling sector leads to increasing levels of
next. Up till now, the focus in Egypt has resource recovery, securing livelihoods for
been on recycling. Policy makers seem the informal waste workers and reducing the
unconcerned with prevention or reuse. amount of waste requiring disposal.
In the selected Governorates, a small The informal sector, informal recyclers and
fraction of the generated household waste waste pickers are increasingly motivated
is collected as clean source separated dry to organise and fight for recognition and a
materials by street peddlers, itinerate waste place within the formal SWM systems. They
buyers and selective collectors. could be organised in many different ways:
cooperatives, associations, companies,
In general, the compost plants receive mixed unions, micro-enterprises. Organising
MSW. Limited separation of the raw waste is benefits them by means of raising social
performed to reduce contamination. Thus, status and self-esteem; improving members’
the quality of the produced compost is poor. incomes and quality of life, circumventing
Adoption of source separation of household middlemen; improving working conditions
waste is a necessity to improve the quality of and contributing to better health quality;
compost and minimise its production costs. facilitating the development of networks;
providing institutional frameworks for hiring
In Qena and Assuit Governorates, the them for local bodies/firms; preventing
majority of agricultural residues are used, harassment and violence; and eliminating
as it is, for animal feeding, except sugar child labour.
cane waste that is habitually burnt out in the
fields. In the Delta Governorates, especially Up till now, no serious effort has been made
Al Gharbiya and Kafr El Sheikh Governorates, to incorporate the informal recycling sector
the agricultural residues are used for animal into the formal SWM system. The Integrated
feeding, composting and biomass generation Solid Waste Management Sector (ISWMS)
that is utilised as alternative fuel for cement should actively facilitate organising the
kilns. informal recycling sector, providing them
with an access to source separated waste,
At the Governorates level, there is a limited promoting their recognition and acceptance,
to non-existing degree of policy and practical and providing capacity building programs for
focus on diverting waste from treatment and them.
disposal to recycling.
In most cases, the public sector operators
In the selected Governorates, the informal are provided with protective wear and
sector, especially scavengers ‘waste pickers’, personal safety wear, in addition to health
plays a crucial role in the management of insurance. This is not the case for private
solid waste. They carry out source separation operators and the informal recyclers.
of MSW and collect the dry recyclables Because they seldom work with personal
such as plastics, paper, glass, metals and protective devices, waste pickers clearly face
textile. They perform their sorting work on many serious occupational health risks.
Possible Incentives for 3R Activities Some examples, described in some detail
It is generally accepted that 3R concept and in this report, are favourable tax incentives
activities’ implementation would impact the on products that are made by recycling
patterns of behaviour and consumer choices used materials (such as paper, plastics,
that would lead to savings in materials and glass, metals), the EPR approach linked
energy benefiting the environment. to a deposit-refund system, interest-
reduced loans on recycling activities, and
In this context it is strongly recommended many others that might emerge from the
to consider the adoption of viable ‘economic informed stakeholders’ dialogue and focused
instruments’ to further strengthen these discussions.
behaviours and choices. The choice of
implementable economic instruments, their It is therefore, a priority objective for the
policy requirements, and implementation Integrated Solid Waste Management
mechanisms, are basic tasks for a collective Sector (ISWMS) to embed the 3R concept,
stakeholders’ dialogue. operational and supportive market-based
instruments in its prioritised duties.
3.5 User Inclusivity

‘User inclusivity’ refers to the active UN-habitat benchmark indicators that
involvement of households, waste generators summarise the performance of a city’s SWM
and other system users in making the ISWM system in a standardised manner, defines
system work6. It is the extent to which the user inclusivity as the degree to which users,
users of the system have access, control or potential users, of the solid waste services
and influence on how the system works. This (i.e. households, business and other waste
aspect of governance could be considered generators) are included in the planning,
from two perspectives. There is the inclusivity policy formation, implementation and
of the users of solid waste services – that evaluation of those services69.
is, to what degree are these stakeholders
included in the planning, policy formation In the selected Governorates, assessment of
and implementation processes. The second equity issues related to the extent to which
perspective on user inclusivity refers to the all citizens, irrespective of income, receive a
performance of the system, and the extent good service that protects public health and
to which it serves all users equitably and the environment, indicated that:
according to their needs and preferences. - The service providers try to provide a good
level of service to all citizens, irrespective
User inclusivity is roughly divided into to their income. However, the level of
several sub-categories include: service varies in each city and between
- Consultation, communication and cities in the same Governorate.
involvement of users, both in decision- - Generally, the capital cities of the
making, and in doing for themselves Governorates receive better services
in relation, for example, to home than other ones, except for Kalyobiya
composting and waste prevention; Governorate. The service provided to the
- Participatory and inclusive planning and residents of Shebin El Kanater city is
system design that includes inclusivity better than that in the capital city, Banha.
in siting facilities; - The equity of service provision to
- Institutionalising inclusivity, for residents in a city could be divided to:
example, feedback mechanisms, client o Medium/high equity in providing SWM
surveys, and solid waste forums and service, irrespective of income level, in
‘platforms’. Qena, Qoos, Assuit, Fayoum, Sennouris,
Shebin El Kanater, Kafr El-Sheikh, Beila
69. Pl refer to Annex 1 of this report
3 and Suez cities. Local councils used to be the source of public
o Medium equity in providing SWM feed-back through community meetings.
service in El Fateh, Banha, Tanta and Following the 2011 uprising, the local
Samannoud cities. councils in the Governorates were resolved.
Thus, this mechanism of public feed-back
In general, the existing level of legal right is not active at present. Suez Governorate
to be heard and level of implementation of uses questionnaires for evaluating the SWM
laws, bylaws and other legal instruments, is service standard, through the Cleansing
inadequate at the national and/or local level. and Beatification Authority. In Al Gharbiya
Authorities should have a legal obligation to Governorate, the Cleansing and Beatification
consult with and involve citizens in decisions Authority receives public complaints from
that directly influence them. In reality, such community meetings and also uses a hot-
consultation is rather limited. Consultation line for receiving complaints. Moreover, the
and participation of stakeholders outside municipalities in the selected Governorates
the bureaucratic structures are seldom. implement public complaints systems
Citizens are often overlooked in the service detailing each complaint received, its nature
delivery framework. However, they could play and location. Furthermore, the Cleansing
an active role in improving accountability and Beatification Authority of Al Gharbiya
and service quality of both public and Governorate utilises a hot-line for receiving
private sectors. The Integrated Solid Waste public complaints.
Management Sector (ISWMS) should take
the lead in enabling the public and private Public education and awareness on SWM
sectors to form partnerships with SW system are factors that could greatly improve the
users for better service delivery. management of SW in Egypt. Some of the
benefits that accrue from education and
Genuine participation of citizens in the awareness on SWM are:
planning, design, implementation, and - Building of positive attitudes, skills, values
evaluation phases are principal prerequisites and concerns towards the environment
for establishing a successful SWM. Currently, between citizens and authorities
citizens are not involved in SWM decision responsible for managing wastes;
making, planning or implementation - Predisposing the citizens and the
processes, at the national and local levels. Agencies to participate actively in
One of the expected tasks of the Integrated segregation, reduction, reuse, composting
Solid Waste Management Sector (ISWMS) and recycling of SW;
would be facilitating the establishment - Development of appropriate skills needed
of SWM committees, task forces and/or for segregation of solid wastes at source
‘platforms’ that would meet regularly and as this is key to proper WM;
effectively to participate in the planning, - Decreasing the rate of improper
implementation and assessment phases of management of wastes and consequently
the sector. the dissemination of diseases; and
- Enhancing policy implementation by
Public feed-back mechanisms on SWM decision makers on waste management.
services include, but not limited to:
- Community meetings and/or Egypt lacks the implementation of a
questionnaires; and comprehensive, culturally appropriate public
- Implementation of a public complaints education and awareness programmes.
system maintained by the municipality There is an urgent need to promptly start
and detailing each complaint received such programmes using printed-press, TV,
its nature and location and features and radio, community meetings and schools’
timing of rectification actions taken. programmes.
3.6 Provider Inclusivity
Provider inclusivity is the extent to which - Small private companies and
the economic niches in service delivery and contractors collect household waste at
valorisation are open and accessible to non- Markez Shubra El-Kheima, Kalyobiya
state actors, especially the private formal Governorate;
and informal sectors, micro- and small - NGOs provide collection and
enterprises (MSEs) and community-based transportation of household waste in
organisations (CBOs)6. Inclusivity could also some villages of the Governorates;
be considered from the perspective of the - Private contractors rent the two
waste service provider that includes both the compost plants in Kafr El-Sheikh
informal and formal sector. Governorate; and
- The informal sector ‘scavengers’
Provider inclusivity covers: provide source separation of MSW in
- Inclusivity in providing solid waste, the selected Governorates. They collect
sweeping and cleaning services; and the dry recyclables such as plastics,
- Inclusivity and protection of paper, glass, metals and textile. Their
livelihoods related to valorising work is not yet legalised.
materials – specifically, formal and
informal recycling and organic waste On the national level, there are no
management. organisations or structures in place that
represent the private waste sector and
The degree of provider inclusivity represents actively participate within SWM planning
the degree to which non-municipal service forums, task forces, committees and/or
providers from the formal private, community steering-groups.
or ‘informal’ sectors are included in the
planning and implementation of solid waste The informal sector ‘scavengers’ who are
and recycling services and activities6. working in the selected Governorates are not
organised. Officially, this unorganised group
Assessment of the degree to which laws and/ is neither acknowledged nor protected.
or other legal instruments are put in place
and implemented at both national or local The central Government actively encourages
levels enabling the ‘private sector’ to deliver and promotes private sector participation in
‘public’ services shows that Egypt’s legal providing different services, including SWM.
SWM framework lacks a consistent model However, the Governorates are free to act
and guidance for private sector participation differently. In the selected Governorate, PSP
(PSP) arrangements. However, the existing in providing SWM services is minimal, as
policy and legal framework has not stated above.
presented obstacles to PSP arrangements in
MSWM. The same applies for public-private The private sector is included within
partnership (PPP) and community based open, transparent and accountable bid
organisation (CBO). Moreover, the sector processes for the provision of SWM services.
lacks the presence of an organised informal An example is the bid process recently
sector. announced by Kafr El Sheikh Governorate,
in the beginning of 2013, for providing SWM
The public sector handles the SWM services services in the Governorate. However, the
in the selected Governorates, except for: process was cancelled due to the lack of
- A private contractor collects the private sector interest in the bid.
household waste in about 90% of East
Assiut district;
3
Box 12 The Brazilian experience to encourage waste picker inclusion in SWM72

During the last two decades, Brazil has moved to
replace repressive policies on waste picking with new Article 6 states that the process of deciding which
inclusive policies that give worldwide in its inclusive organisations will be entitled to the donation of
policies regarding waste pickers. recyclables must adhere to the rules of publicity and
transparency of the public administration in order to
The Brazilian presidential decree 0f 2006 commits ensure that all waste picker organisations are aware
state institutions to segregate waste at source and of the selection process.
its donation to waste picker cooperatives and/or
associations. Article 5 specifies that a committee This policy makes the generator of waste responsible
should be created at each Federal Government for the return of recyclables to the productive chain.
facility that is responsible for overseeing the This increases the volume of recyclables available
implementation of on-site source segregation, to waste pickers. The policy was recognized as
insuring that recyclables are donated to the waste a big advancement for the MNCR (the National
pickers. The committee should report to the Inter- Movement of Waste Pickers) as it made the inclusion
ministerial Committee for Social Inclusion of Waste of waste pickers mandatory. This necessitated the
Pickers twice a year with an assessment on the availability of fiscal and financial incentives for the
process. recycling industry, for the development of regional
programmes in partnership with waste picker
- The decree defines the types of organisation organisations, and to facilitate the structuring of
(cooperatives and associations of waste pickers) these organisations. After 20 years of debate, the
that could register to receive recyclables from National Policy of Solid Waste was finally approved in
federal Organisations should be of a non-profit July 2010. Thus what had been a government policy
nature; became law. This law offers exceptional recognition
- Organisations should have a proper place for to waste pickers’ administration entities and gives
sorting and classification of recyclables; and instructions on requirements:
- Organisations should adopt the system of splitting - Organisations should be composed exclusively of
shares amongst members. waste pickers whose living depends solely on this
kind of activity;
As a result of the legal backing to redistributive
measures and social recognition of informal waste
picker organisations, Brazil has became one of the
most progressive countries
4. Analysis and
Benchmarking
4 Analysis and
Benchmarking
This chapter elaborates further on the Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM)
framework and its key dimensions, in addition to the benchmark indicators and its drivers and
governance strategies. The main waste related data, for 13 cities and 6 villages in the selected
Governorates were presented. Moreover, the benchmark indicators’ scoring form was used
to compare the WM systems in the studied cities and villages to support an understanding of
processes and drivers that affect them. The outcomes of the benchmark indicators’ study are
discussed, tabulated and recommendations for improvement are provided.
4.1 The Integrated Sustainable Waste

Management Framework
When the current modernisation process preferences, if the measures are imposed
started in developed countries in the 1970s, rather than discussed and negotiated with
‘modern waste management’ was largely the system users, then, the system will not
defined in engineering terms – a technical be embedded and sustained by the society
problem with a technical solution. Gradually, and will never perform as designed. The use
as many city authorities would confirm of more advanced technology could not alone
from their own experience, the world resolve these kinds of issues either.
community learnt that no technology could
solve the problems related to economic and ISWM is a framework to describe, theorise,
social sustainability of waste management assess and ultimately improve (depending
solutions71. on the focus of the user) existing systems
If the costs of day-to-day operations are not of waste management in a city72. ISWM
recovered, if the citizens are not interested or is distinguished from more traditional,
welling or simply could not afford to pay, the engineering-based waste management
system will not be able to sustain itself over assessment and planning methods in several
a longer period of time, regardless of access ways that are among others, by:
to grants and loans for capital investments - An explicit attention for a broad range of
from the central Government or international stakeholders, issues and conditions;
financing agencies. ‘Better’ technology could - A particular concern for the most
not solely solve this kind of problems. disadvantaged groups;
- Giving priority to the conservation of
If the municipal authorities do not have environmental resources, using the waste
adequate knowledge and capacity to management hierarchy as a cornerstone;
monitor the performance of a private service - Basing the assessment on a wider
provider, if the collection system in place is range of normative principles, including
not in accordance with citizens’ needs and fairness, sustainability and equity besides
70. Sonia Dias, “Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing”, (WIEGO Policy Brief NO.6), Might 2011
71. Ljiljana Rodic, Anne Scheinberg and David C. Wilson (2010) , “Comparing Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities”, Key-note paper at ISWA World
Congress 2010, Urban Development and Sustainability – a Major Challenge for Waste Management in the 21st Century, Hamburg, Germany, 15-18
November 2010
72. J. Anschütz, J. I. Jgosse, and A. Scheinberg (2004). “Putting Integrated Sustainable Waste Management into Practice: Using the ISWM Assessment
Methodology”, ISWM Methodology as Applied in the UWEP plus Programme (2001-2003).WASTE, Gouda, the Netherlands.
104 4. Analysis and Benchmarking — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013

efficiency and effectiveness; phases: generation, collection, transport and
- Its radical shift in approach to the treatment/disposal that might be described
planning process, from a technical as the technical components of a waste
bureaucratic exercise to decentralised management. Furthermore, they also involve
and participatory one; and the four elements of the waste hierarchy
- Its strong emphasis on the importance prevention/reduction, reuse, recycling and
of taking into account the particular recovery (referred to as waste hierarchy
conditions, strengths and weaknesses of elements), with a declining desirability from
the local context. the first to the last element (cf. Figure 9).
In order to achieve this, ISWM identifies three Aspects – This is the last key dimension
key dimensions of the waste management in the ISWM approach that describes six
system: “lenses, through which the waste system
i) The relevant stakeholders; could be assessed”73. These aspects
ii) The waste system elements; and (technical, environmental/health, financial/
iii) A set of aspects which are heavily economic, socio-cultural, institutional and
dependent on the context (cf. Figure 1). policy/ legal/political) are seen as crucial
to assess and understand, in order to apply
Those dimensions are resulting out of the changes to the system.
understanding “that it is not the technical
issues, but the other aspects of waste ISWM focus on how technological
management that are most likely to influence dimensions (e.g. collection and treatment)
the success or failure of interventions”73. and social dimensions (e.g. socio-cultural
aspects or stakeholder relations) in a
Stakeholders - the first key dimension waste management interrelate and that
recognised in ISWM is the stakeholders. they have to be described together in order
ISWM defines a stakeholder hereby very to understand how waste management
broadly as “a person or organisation functions and to make improvements on it.
that has a stake, an interest in (...) waste Furthermore, it offers a helpful framework
management”72. Besides the municipality for the assessment including all the
and the households that are always dimensions well thought-out as obligatory in
stakeholders, that could be very specific for the technical components of the WMS.
each context and have diverse interests. One
central challenge of the ISWM process is “to Along with the theorisation of ISWM as
get them to agree to cooperate for a common a concept, a set of guidance documents
purpose that of improving the waste system”. have been devised that offer an analytical
framework for assessing and improving
Elements - ISWM recognises a set of waste the existing SWM. One of these guidance
system elements that could be interpreted as documents; Benchmark Indicators, was used
those non-human actors. They wrap the four for the methodology in this study.
73. N. Dulac (2001), “Organic Waste Flow in Integrated Sustainable Waste Management: Tools for Decision-Makers”, Experiences from the Urban Waste
Expertise Programme (1995-2001). Gouda: WASTE.
4. Analysis and Benchmarking — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013 105

4
4.2 Benchmark
IndicatorsManagement Framework
A major constraint in comparing SWM in three physical system components and all
different cities is the lack of consistent three features of good governance73. This
global solid waste and recycling system enables cities to recognize the next steps
benchmarks – even the most common in their development as a function of where
indicator, cost per tonne, is not available they are now and where they wish to be. A
in most cities . The most basic kinds of reliable approach starts from the existing
information are collected in very different strengths of the city and build upon them;
ways in various cities74, if indeed they are involving all stakeholders to jointly design
collected and recorded at all73. locally tuned models. Learning from each
other in a community of practice provides an
In this context, a form was developed to opportunity to ‘pick and mix’, adopt and adapt
formulate a new standard method for the solutions that will work in a particular
data collection and analysis, as well as an local situation.
international database that rests on about
300 data documents. These data documents Benchmark indicators are presented and
include a number of quantitative benchmarks compared for three key drivers that match
that could be functional to cities to derive physical components of an integrated and
smart indicators, as well as a complete sustainable waste management (ISWM),
waste mass balance presented by a process i.e.: public health / collection, environment
flow diagram, thus allowing comparison / disposal and resource recovery – and
between cities and supporting better for three governance strategies required
understanding of the processes and driving to deliver a well functioning ISWM, i.e.:
forces that affect them all. inclusivity, financial sustainability and sound
institutions / pro-active policies. Key insights
Benchmarking of waste management include the worth of the informal recycling
services is far from being a straightforward sector in many developing country cities; they
exercise, even within a single small country not only deliver recycling rates comparable to
with uniform regulations, governance modern Western systems, but also save the
system, culture, level of development city authorities millions of dollars in avoided
and climatic conditions. In order to make waste collection and disposal costs.
comparison achievable among vastly
different cities from all over the world, a In this chapter, the data collected through
detailed methodology was designed to our field visits are used to compare and
present key indicators and key narratives contrast SWM in cities and villages around
about the waste management policies the selected Governorates, in order to get to
and practices in the city in a form that was a broad understanding of what solid waste
accessible to readers. management is and what it could mean for
cities, whether they are located in Upper
There are no ‘one size fits all’ solutions – any Egypt, the Delta or a Coastal area.
successful approach needs to address all
74. David C. Wilson, Ljiljana Rodic, Anne Scheinberg and Graham Alabaster (2010), “Comparative Analysis of Solid Waste Management in Cities Around the
World”, Proceedings Waste 2010: Waste and Resource Management – Putting Strategy into Practice Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, 28-29
September 2010

4.3 Comparing Key Waste-related
Data and Benchmark Indicators
Wilson et al discussed in detail the Solid by the authors. The Gross Domestic Product
Waste Management in cities around the (GDP) per capita values were obtained
world, using the benchmark indicators.7,73,76,75 from Egypt Human Development Report,
Their comparative analysis methodology has issued by the United Nations Development
been adapted in the present study. Programme, and the Institute of National
Planning, in 201012. However, GDP values
4.3.1 Selected cities and villages were given for the Governorates as a whole,
irrespective of the cities and villages within
The present study focused on seven the Governorate.
Governorates, i.e., Qena, Assiut, Fayoum,
Kalyobiya, Al Gharbiya, Kafr El-Sheikh and 4.3.2 Waste generation
Suez. This chapter presents and compares
the results for 19 cities and villages, including Earlier studies indicated that the cities in
the 7 capital cities of the Governorates, 6 the lowest-income countries generally show
main cities in Marakez and 6 mother villages waste generation in the range 150-250 kg/
“semi-urban areas”, taking into account that capita/year, those in middle income countries
Suez Governorate contains one city. 250-450 and those in high income countries
450-650 kg/capita/year76.
The selection criteria were aimed to give a
good mix of cities and semi-urban areas that In the studied cities and villages, a maximum
would display a range of urban solid waste waste generation of 342.8 kg/capita/year
management across Egypt. Among the 19 was estimated at Tanta city, Al Gharbiya
cities and villages selected, there are four Governorate; whereas Assiut city generated
cities with a population over 400,000, and a minimum waste quantity of 90.8 kg/capita/
two mother villages with population less year and El-Ameria village at Al Gharbiya
than 16,000. On the other hand, in Markez Governorate generated 96.3 kg/capita/year of
Qoos at Qena Governorate, the population of MSW.
Hegaza village is higher than Qoos city which
is the capital city of the Markez. Table 20 It is expected, as a general trend, that
identifies the 19 selected cities and villages the generated household waste would
and their populations, municipal solid waste be maximum in the capital city of each
generation and composition. Governorate and minimum in the mother
villages “semi-urban areas”, due to the
The Governorates officials provided the data expected variation in GDP per capita, in those
for population and generated MSW and its cities and villages. This assumption is true
composition. As recommended earlier, the in Al Gharbiya Governorate only. However, it
NSWMP and the Integrated Solid Waste is early to reach a conclusion in that issue.
Management Sector (ISWMS) should focus Further studies are urgent after the exact
on estimating the quantities and composition measurement of the generated MSW in the
of MSW generated in the different selected Governorates.
Governorates, using standard methods. The
per capita generated waste was calculated
75. David C. Wilson, Costas A. Velis and Ljiljana Rodic (2012), “Integrated Sustainable Waste Management in Developing Countries”, Waste and Resource
Management,166 (2), 52 - 68
76. Lars Mikkel Johannessen with Gabriela Boyer (1999) , “Observations of Solid Waste Landfills in Developing Countries: Africa, Asia, and Latin America”,
Urban Development Division, Waste Management Anchor Team, The World Bank

108
4
Location Population GDP (LE) Kg Per Kg Per Composition of MSW (%)
per capita Capita/ Capita/
year day Organic Paper Plastics Metal Glass Textile Other
Qena Governorate
Qena city 220,655 6,387.5 274.1 0.75 66.5 12.4 10.2 1.0 2.0 2.1 5.8
Qoos city 68,319 6,387.5 131.4 0.36 66.5 12.4 10.2 1.0 2.0 2.1 5.8
Hegaza village 99,102 6,387.5 147.3 0.40 76.4 1.9 4.0 1.7 2.5 1.1 12.4
Assiut Governoratea
Assiut city 482,266 8,019.6 90.8 0.25 48.4 9.1 10.0 2.21 4.93 1.91 23.45
El Fateh city 17,697 8,019.6 305.1 0.84 48.4 9.1 10.0 2.21 4.93 1.91 23.45
El Zarabi village 19,536 8,019.6 158.4 0.43 48.4 9.1 10.0 2.21 4.93 1.91 23.45
Fayoum Governorate
4. Analysis and Benchmarking — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013

Fayoum city 364,377 8,433.7 250.4 0.69 60 6 6 2.4 6 3.5 16.1
Senuris city 101,035 8,433.7 252.9 0.69 75 12 5 1 1 1 5
Demo village 13,585 8,433.7 241.8 0.66 45.4 7.3 13.7 0.9 1.8 0.9 30
Kalyobiya Governoratea
Banha city 186,119 8,134.4 245.1 0.67 62.5 10 13.5 3 5 2 5
Shebin El Qanater city 65.232 8,134.4 250.7 0.69 62.5 10 13.5 3 5 2 5
Astit village 17,056 8,134.4 113.9 0.31 62.5 10 13.5 3 5 2 5
Al Gharbya Governorate
Tanta city 468,510 8799.6 342.8 0.94 54 15 6 4 4 3 14
Samannoud city 63,482 8799.6 312.8 0.86 55 16 6 3 5 2 13
El-Ameria village 18,943 8799.6 96.3 0.26 57 15 3 4 3 4 15
4.3.3 Waste composition
Other
5.2
5.2
4.1
40
The following aspects should be well
thought about before dealing with waste
Textile
composition76.
1.0
1.0
0.6
i) How and where in the composition
-
is measured. For example, the
b No data were available for the composition of MSW in Suez city. However, the compost plant manger indicated the presence of about 60% organic waste in the received MSW.
measurements apply to:
Glass
- the whole waste stream generated;

0.8
0.8
0.3
- the wastes collected from households;

-
a The composition of MSW is estimated by Governorate officials for the whole Governorate in the study (Environmental Characterization of Assiut Governorate, 2004) or
Metal
- the wastes arriving at the disposal site.

0.5
0.5
0.5
ii) What are the wastes included in the

-
sample? – e.g. high values for ‘other’

might reflect the large fraction of CDW.
Plastics
Table 19 shows the composition of MSW, as

5.0
5.0
3.0
Composition of MSW (%)
estimated by the Governorates, except for

Kafr El Sheikh Governorate, that provided
Paper
results for general composition of waste

2.5
2.5
1.5
in urban and rural areas, as measured in

-
200565.
- The wet organic fraction is predominant
Organic
in the waste and ranges between

85.0
85.0
90.0
54.4 - 90% in Demo village (Fayoum

60
Governorate) and Abo Badawy

village (Kafr El Sheikh Governorate),
respectively.
Capita/
Kg Per
- The paper content range in the waste

0.78
0.80
0.57
0.61
day
between 16% in Samannoud city (Al

Gharbiya Governorate) and 1.5% in
Abo Badawy village (Kafr El Sheikh
Governorate).
Capita/
Kg Per
- Plastics percentage ranges between

285.6
290.8
207.1
221.7
year
13.7% in Demo village (Fayoum

Governorate) and 3% in El-Ameria
village (Al Gharbiya Governorate) and
per capita
GDP (LE)
Abo Badawy village (Kafr El Sheikh

8,927.9
8,927.9
8,927.9
8745.8
Governorate).
Population
166,132
576,279
75,314
15,862
Table 20 Key Waste-related data,

population, MSW generation and
composition in the selected cities and
villages
Abo Badawy village
Suez Governorateb
Kafr El Sheikh city
Beila city
Suez city
Location

4 4.3.4 Physical Elements of the The second benchmark indicator for
System environmental control is related to the
percentage of total waste destined for
The benchmark indicators are used both land disposal and is classified according to
to allocate comparison between cities and the degree of organisation, management
to support an understanding of processes and engineering of the disposal site.
and drivers that affect them all. Table 21 According to the World Bank classification,
shows a comparison of seven benchmark maximum score would be focussed to fully
indicators for the 13 cities and six mother engineered facility such as fully functional
villages “semi-urban areas” including at sanitary landfill site; followed by a partially
least one indicator for each of the three engineered facility, such as engineered
drivers / physical elements and the three landfill site; then a controlled facility follows,
governance elements71. Four of the such as a controlled landfill; followed by
benchmarks are quantitative, while three, on a semi-controlled facility such as a semi-
inclusivity and institutional coherence, are controlled dump; and the worse situation is
necessarily qualitative. The assessment is dumping waste in an uncontrolled facility76.
also represented as follows: The percentage of total waste destined for
- High 81 - 100% land disposal, for the studied cities and
(traffic light indicator – green) villages, is given in column 2, of Table 21.
- Medium/High 61 - 80% In general, MSW generated in the selected
(green/orange) Governorates is destined for disposal in
- Medium 41 - 60% uncontrolled dumpsites with the exceptions
(orange) of: disposal of waste generated in Tanta
- Medium/Low 21 - 40% city, in Al Gharbya Governorate; where
(orange/red) the waste is transported for a distance of
- Low 0 - 20% about 120 km and disposed in a controlled
(red) facility in El-Sadaat city; disposal of waste
generated in El Zaraby village, Markez Abu
The public health indicator provides data on Tig in Assiut Governorate; disposal of the
the percentage of population that has access generated municipal solid waste of Kalyobiya
to waste collection services and street Governorate in Abu Zaabal controlled
sweeping. The quality of waste collection dumpsite; and disposal of the generated
service is high in Qena and Qoos cities in waste from Senuris and Tamiya Marakez
Qena Governorate, Fayoum city, Abo Badawy at Fayoum Governorate in a controlled
village in Kafr El Sheikh Governorate and dumpsite in Kom Oshim.
Suez city; medium/high in Hegaza village in
Qena Governorate, Senuris city in Fayoum The data given in column 2 highlights the
Governorate, Shebin El Qanater city and Astit weightiness of the present situation involving
village in Kalyobiya Governorate, and Kafr El disposal of MSW in uncontrolled facilities.
Sheikh city and Beila city in Kafr El Sheikh Overall the environmental condition of
Governorate; medium in El Zarabi village the uncontrolled dumpsites is extremely
in Assiut Governorate, and Demo village in vulnerable, with severe environmental
Fayoum Governorate; medium/low in Assiut pollution. One of the priorities of the NSWMP
and El Fateh cities in Assiut Governorate, and the Integrated Solid Waste Management
Banha city in Kalyobiya Governorate and Sector (ISWMS) would be to endeavour this
Tanta city in Al Gharbiya Governorate; national problem and to facilitate upgrading
and low in Samannoud city in Al Gharbiya open dumps to sanitary landfills.
Governorate (cf. Table 21).

The third benchmark indicator is dedicated in evaluation of these services76. Criteria
to resource recovery, through minimising include, for example, functioning citizens’
waste generation combined with increasing committees with a mandate and scope
materials recycling, as shown in column 3 to address waste management issues;
of Table 21. Recovering energy from MSW formal procedures to measure customer
is not common in Egypt yet and the focus is satisfaction with waste management
directed on material recovery. The highest services at municipal or sub-municipal
rates of resource recovery, in the range level; and effective feedback mechanisms
of 48% to 50%, are achieved in Suez and between service providers and service
Beila cities and Abo Badawy village. This users that are used as the basis for making
high recovery rate is for the most part due changes or improvements. For provider
to recycling of the organic portion of the inclusivity, the indicator represents the
waste. The public sector is responsible for degree to which both formal and informal
the recovery in Suez city, whereas the private private/ community-based service providers
sector manages and operates the compost and waste recyclers are included in the
plant receiving the generated waste from planning and implementation process of
Beila city and Abo Badawy village. The poor waste management services and activities.
rates of resource recovery, in other cities Moreover, both measures of inclusivity
and villages, might be ascribed to the limited include a focus on solid waste and recycling
activities of informal scavengers in materials stakeholders outside of the formally
recycling of glass, paper, plastics and metals. recognised solid waste structures.
Poor governance is a major reason why The score of user and provider inclusivity
cities’ solid waste and other urban systems is generally poor, for the studied cities
fail73. In examining governance aspects, and villages, indicating a general trend for
it was focused on inclusivity of users and Egypt. Only Fayoum and Suez cities achieved
service providers, financial sustainability, and medium score on user inclusivity measure.
the strength of the institutional framework. The remaining cities and villages score
was medium/low, except for Samannoud
A key aspect of good waste governance is city in Al Gharbiya Governorate that got low
inclusivity and fairness, with a dual focus score. The score for the degree of provider
on users and service providers76. Columns inclusivity varied a little. Fayoum and Tanta
4A and 4B, in Table 21, shows a qualitative cities, in addition to Astit village in Kalyobiya
assessment of inclusivity for each category. Governorate and El-Ameria village in Al
The assessment is based on a composite Gharbiya Governorate achieved medium
score from a set of qualitative indicators score; 7 cities and villages achieved medium/
allowing a yes for present and a no for absent low score and the remaining 8 cities and
feature in the system. villages got low score.
For user inclusivity, the indicator represents

the degree to which users of the solid waste
services are included in policy formation,
planning and siting of facilities, as well as
Table 21 Benchmark indicators in the

selected cities and villages

112
4
Location Drivers for Solid Waste Management Governance
Public Health Environmental Resource Inclusivity Financial Institutional

Control Recovery Sustainability Coherence
1 2 3 4A 4B 5 6
Percent Percent Percent Degree of user Degree of Degree of Degree of

Collection / Controlled Recycling Inclusivity Provider Financial Institutional
Sweeping Treatment / Rate Inclusivity Sustainability Coherence
Coverage Disposal
Qena Governorate
Qena city 95% 0% 3% Medium/Low Low Medium/Low Medium
Code
Qoos city 95% 0% 3% Medium/Low Low Medium/Low Medium
Code
Hegaza village 65% 0% 2% Medium/Low Low Medium/Low Medium/Low
Code
Assiut Governorate

Assiut city 30% 0% 22% Medium/Low Medium/Low Medium Medium
Code
El Fateh City 25% 0% 0% Medium/Low Low Medium Medium
Code
El Zarabi village 45% 40% 2% Medium/Low Low Medium Medium
Code
Fayoum Governorate
Fayoum city 90% 0% 3% Medium Medium Medium Medium
Code
Senuris city 65% 10% 3% Medium/Low Low Medium/Low Medium
Code
Demo village 60% 0% 2% Medium/Low Low Low Medium/Low
Code
Banha city 35% 0% 5% Medium/Low Medium/Low Medium/Low Medium/Low
Code
Shebin El Kanater city 65% 0% 5% Medium/Low Medium/Low Medium/Low Medium/Low
Code
Astit village 65% 0% 5% Medium/Low Medium Medium/Low Medium
Code
Al Gharbya Governorate
Tanta city 35% 50% 22% Medium/Low Medium Medium Medium
Code
Samannoud city 20% 0% 3% Low Medium/Low Medium Medium
Code
El-Ameria village 40% 50% 5% Medium/Low Medium Medium Medium/Low
Code

Kafr El Sheikh city 75% 0% 3% Medium/Low Low Medium/Low Medium
Code
Beila city 75% 0% 48% Medium/Low Medium/Low Medium Medium
Code
Abo Badawy village 85% 0% 48% Medium/Low Medium/Low Medium Medium
Code
Suez Governorate
Suez city 90% 0% 50% Medium Medium/Low Medium/Low Medium
Code

113
4 The poor user and provider inclusivity score - “Medium/low” for Qena and Qoos cities
indicate the need for: and Hegaza village in Qena Governorate,
- Equity for service users that comprises: Senuris city in Fayoum Governorate,
o Waste collection coverage; Banha and Shebin El Qanater cities and
o Consultation and involvement of users Astit village in Kalyobiya Governorate, and
in decision-making on policy, planning Kafr El Sheikh and Suez cities;
and siting of facilities, and - “Low” for Demo village in Fayoum
o Formal procedures for measuring Governorate
customer satisfaction and effective
feedback mechanisms between service SWM is in economic terms a merit good
users and service providers. – i.e. a good, or rather a service, deemed
- Enhance the inclusion of non-municipal so important, in this case for public health
service providers from the formal private, reasons that the law requires that it is
community or ‘informal’ sectors in the provided for the profit of the entire society,
planning and implementation of solid regardless of the interest of the market to
waste and recycling services and activities supply it or the users’ ability (or willingness)
to pay for it7. This means that the function
Good waste governance requires that of the city needs to remain strong, if not in
the system be financially sus¬tainable77. provision, then in regulation, of the services.
Compiling comparative – and comparable It is also practically impossible to exclude
– data on costs and on cost recovery non-payers, as the service is prone to
has proved to be particularly strenuous: ‘free-rider’ behaviour. For such reasons,
accounting systems vary widely; cost and cost recovery from paying users – although
budgeting mechanisms are often fragmented considered weighty – is not the central
and scattered over several departments; feature of financial management in most of
many cities are either unable or perhaps the selected cities.
unwilling to share information.
A strong and transparent institutional
According to Wilson et al.7 the financial framework is indispensable to good
sustainability benchmark indicator is highest governance in solid waste7. Without such
in the high-income cities, but below that a framework; the system will not work
income level, the data are scattered widely well over the long term. The cleanliness
and over the complete range from 0–100%. of a city and the effectiveness of its solid
waste management might be useful as
Column 5 in table 21 shows the score for a proxy indicator of good governance.
financial sustainability indicator. The score is: The competence of services to lower-
- “Medium” for Assiut and El Fateh income communities also reflects on how
cities and El Zarabi village in Assiut successfully a city is addressing issues
Governorate, Tanta and Samannoud of urban poverty and equity. For waste
cities and El-Ameria village in Al Gharbiya man¬agement to work well, the city also
Governorate, Fayoum city, and Beila city needs to address underlying issues relating
and Abo Badawy village in Kafr El-Sheikh to management structures, contracting
Governorate; procedures, labour practices, accounting,
77. David C Wilson, Ljiljana Rodic, Anne Scheinberg, Costas A Velis and Graham Alabaster (2012), “Comparative Analysis of Solid Waste Management in 20
Cities”, Waste Management and Research, 30(3), 237–254

cost recovery and corruption. Clear budgets - There are needs for:
and lines of accountability are essential. o Developing a comprehensive national
law(s) to address SWM requirements;
Indicator 6 in Table 21 shows the benchmark o Updating the national strategy, and
indicator for ‘degree of institutional developing a master plan for ISWM;
coherence’: about 73% of the studied cities o Adapting comprehensive SWM
and villages score “medium” against this pro¬grammes to create ‘quality
indicator. The score of the remaining cities commu¬nities’ for cities’ residents;
and villages was “medium/low. The score o Adapting a decentralised SWM
against this indicator is: approach in the Governorates;
- “Medium” in Qena, Qoos, Fayoum, o Establishing a management information
Senuris, Tanta, Samannoud and Suez system (MIS) responsible for regular
cities, and Astit village as well as the cities measurement of data, collection and
and villages of Assiut and Kafr El Sheikh monitoring;
Governorates; and o Equity of service delivery for high and
- “Medium/low” in Banha and Shebin El low income areas, and in particular the
Kanater cities, and Hegaza, Demo and slums;
El-Ameria villages. o Improving service implementation,
management and supervision;
Comments and Recommendations: o Initiating a programme for dumpsite
- In the studied cities and villages, there are closure and remediation and
examples of strong political commitment establishing fully engineered facilities
and leadership showing perceptible for waste disposal;
results, such as in Qena, Fayoum and o Initiating a programme for household
Suez Governorates, but also of weak waste segregation;
and disinterested institutions with o Addressing the existing problems of
accompanying poor per¬formance of the composting plants and encouraging the
SWM. diversity of waste treatment projects in
- Despite the truthful efforts of the the Governorates;
Cleansing and Beatification Authority and o Integrating the community and/or
the EMU staff in Al Gharbiya Governorate, informal recycling sector with the
lack of resources affects the level of formal SWM;
SWM. o Stakeholders involvement in
- Though limited resources are available the planning, policy formation,
in Abo Badawy village, at Kafr El-Sheikh implementation and evaluation of the
Governorate, the head of the public services;
unit succeeded to establish a proper o Including non-municipal service
MSW collection, street cleansing and providers, such as the formal private,
transportation system in the village. community or ‘informal’¹ sectors in

4 the planning and implementation of o Applying the extended producer
solid waste and recycling services and responsibility (EPR) to pass the burden
activities; of SWM back in part to those who place
o Participation of the private waste sector on the market products which make
in SWM planning forums, task forces, up a significant part of the solid wastes
committees and/or steering-groups; that are handled by the cities;
o Initiating and use of public feed-back o Preparing guidelines for local
mechanisms including: community authorities on how to implement the
meetings and/or questionnaires; laws and strategy;
implementation of a public complaints o Establishing well organised and
system maintained by the municipality adequately resourced SWM units
and detailing each complaint received; in the Governorates certifying that
its nature and location; and nature and SWM services are planned, delivered
timing of rectification actions taken; and funded and could enforce the
o Presence of national and local legislation; and
institutional and/or legal incentives o Implementation of a comprehensive,
that actively encourage private sector, culturally appropriate public education
public-private partnership (PPP), and awareness raising programmes.
community based organisation, and
organised ‘informal participation within Annex 4 provides the Governorate’s case
SWM; studies, including Governorate’s profile;
o Increasing budget allocations to provide major stakeholders and their contact
high quality service; information; Governorate’s needs; and
o Developing a mechanism for cost scoring forms. Moreover, Annex 5 presents
recovery taking into account cross- some international success stories and best
subsidise charges for those who could practices.
least afford to pay;

5. Future
Perspectives
5 Future Perspectives
Most of the topics discussed in this chapter are at the policy level.
MSEA and NSWMP are currently in the process of elaborating
a new national policy on SWM. This chapter points out to the
magnitude of bearing the following issues in mind, according
to the expert opinion of the author’s team based on gathered
data and experiences, in the preparation of the forthcoming new
national policy:
- Planning and implementation of Integrated Sustainable Waste
Management (ISWM);
- The national responsibilities;
- Economic instruments;
- Financial sustainability (cost recovery and other measures);
- Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR);
- Financial institutions participation;
- Formal and informal private sector involvement;
- Multi-stakeholders involvement;
- Public awareness and community participation;
- Establishing an efficient data / IT national system;
- Development of pilot projects;
- Decentralisation of Solid Waste Management; and
- International development agencies support.
5.1 Implementation of Integrated Sustainable Waste

Management (ISWM)
The annual report discusses the key aspects It is vital to identify and implement
for the implementation of an ISWM. The sustainable solutions for waste collection,
system requires the integration/coordination recycling, treatment and disposal. New waste
between public entities with regard to management must be established taking
policy, legislative and institutional building into account the informal sector in order
in addition to PSP, multi-stakeholders to raise awareness, promote an adequate
consultation and active public participation. waste collection and treatment tools and the
economic growth of this activity sector in a
ISWM is a concept targeting the technological efficient and sustainable way78.
establishment of an environmentally-
sound and financially-sustainable SWM. It The central focus would be the integration
focuses on all the elements in the waste of the sustainability aspects of SWM, such
management from generation to final as environmental impacts, economic
disposal. This integrated approach should considerations and the social settings. It
comprise technical, environmental, legal, is also imperative to integrate appropriate
socioeconomic and financial aspects, low cost and efficient technologies with
involving the stakeholders at different levels community based management and
to ensure an effective implementation. their relevant governance, institutional
frameworks and socioeconomic constraints,
78. Gerhard Schories (2012), “Integrated Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Asia: Project Final Report”, VEREIN ZUR FOERDERUNG DES
TECHNOLOGIETRANSFERS and DER HOCHSCHULE BREMERHAVEN E.V.
118 5. Future Perspectives — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013

linking waste treatment with poverty management hierarchy” does not
reduction and improvement of welfare of address costs. Therefore, it could not
the population. An in-depth understanding help assess the economic affordability
of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities of waste management, etc. There is no
and threats in the specific local context are one ‘best method’ of waste management
deep-seated when developing a robust and as it is a complex phenomenon with a
sustainable solution. range of consequences for the involved
stakeholders and the society;
The concept of ISWM recognises that - Integrating and encouraging the role
success in SWM depends on engaging a of formal and informal private sector
range of stakeholders, capitalising on their participation in the SWM sector, and.
strengths to build an effective team with clear - Public awareness and education are
distribution of roles and responsibilities. This needed in order to understand the
involves attitudes and behaviour of service problems that arise from inadequate solid
providers as well as service users thus waste management, the correct way to
including citizens and institutions generating deal with SWM and the opportunities it
waste, MSWM staff, employees of private might represent, such as recycling.
enterprises and informal sector actors such
as zabaleen, waste pickers, waste dealers A national policy for ISWM has to be
and recyclers. developed and implemented aiming at the
Problems might be aggravated not only control of waste generation rate, waste
by technical or financial factors, but also segregation, material recovery, and waste
due to inadequate managerial capacity, a disposal technology that will have minimum
weak institutional framework, a challenging impacts on local residents.
environment, socio-cultural or conflict
situations. In such cases, it is not money or The proposed policy could be grouped into
equipment’s that provide better solutions, but five major categories:
rather a change of social, institutional, legal - Monitoring of waste generation situation
or political conditions. The ISWM concept was including waste characteristics and
developed to reflect this reality, as a means sources of waste generation;
to articulate a vision of waste management - Assistance to local Governorate
that would pay attention to all these various authorities both financially and
aspects. technically. The assistance would
cover the whole WM hierarchy starting
Establishing an ISWM requires: from source separation, collection,
- Analysing the main constraints for transportation, material recovery, and
implementing new concepts on MSWM disposal;
(from waste collection to treatment), - Awareness raising for both local
compiling data on waste generation and government authorities and the public;
treatment and identifying common and - Development of appropriate MSWM
urgent problems. In general, the methods regulations and implementation
of SW collection and disposal are guidelines; and
inadequate and institutional capacity for - Involvement of stakeholders in MSWM.
the waste management in industry must
be strengthened, identifying gaps in the The national policy would aim to minimise
technical knowledge and socio-economic waste generation by promoting the 3Rs
policy barriers is required; including promotion of waste reduction,
- Finding the most suitable and feasible separation at source and waste materials
solutions through the study of the most recovery. As for waste treatment facilities,
appropriate adapted technologies on the policy would support the establishment
SWM for each specific problem; of central SWM disposal facilities with
- Definition of an innovative ISWM concept appropriate technology to be shared among
specifically considering the recent municipalities. Privatisation of waste
situation and future trends. The “waste management services is also needed to
5. Future Perspectives — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013 119

5 achieve high efficiency as well as to attract In general, the national legislations are
investment from the private sector. fragmented and focused on controlling the
To achieve the targets of ISWM that focus on collection and disposal of generated waste.
the 3Rs, a strategic plan has to be developed The new master SWM law to be drafted
aiming to reduce waste generation and should be in association with the proposed
enhance waste segregation, reuse, and national policy on resource recovery and
recycling in every community. The strategy 3Rs, promoting waste reduction, reuse, and
would include promotion of resource- recycling.
efficiency, sustainable consumption, waste
reduction and recycling, and technology- The newly established Integrated Solid Waste
based treatment and disposal. Management Sector (ISWMS) is proposed
to set a SWM standards aiming at enabling
For policy implementation, the Polluter Pay the Governorates to effectively implement
Principles (PPP) might be enforced for all the proposed national policy. The standard
waste generators. Databases for SWM might should provided a framework, guidelines and
be updated and distributed to all parties recommendations to local authorities on SW
involved. Law and regulation would also administration, WM plan, public participation,
be updated and revised when appropriate. facility development, involvement of private
Example of matters that should be regularly sector, and technologies for solid waste
updated are service fees, subsidy schemes treatment.
for waste reduction, and the program for
local community to participate in SWM and 5.1.1 Integrated Sustainable
monitoring of environmental quality. Waste Management Planning
A part from the above measure, there ISWM planning is a dynamic tool including
are also other potential implementation aspects that range from policy-making and
measures including the promotion of institutional development to technical design
environmental education, research of integrated solutions for the handling and
and development in environmentally disposal of waste79. The concept of ISWM
sound technologies, capacity building differs from the conventional approach
for government officers and related towards waste management by seeking
stakeholders, and raising environmental stakeholder participation, covering waste
awareness among citizens and the local prevention and resource recovery, including
public. interactions with other systems and
promoting an integration of different habitat
Due to the growing GHG emissions from the scales (city, neighbourhood, household).
waste sector, the national strategy should ISWM does not cope with WM as just a
include reducing organic fraction in the technical issue, but also recognizes the
waste to disposal and upgrade technology political and social factor as the most
from open dumping to sanitary landfill. important.
Waste separation is to be promoted to
enhance waste utilisation and resource ISWM consists of three dimensions; each is
recovery. Composting and waste to energy of crucial importance and must be cautiously
are recommended. cared about all through the Planning
79. Klundert, Ar. & J., Anschutz, 1999, “Integrated Sustainable Waste Management: the Selection of Appropriate Technologies and the Design of Sustainable
Systems is not (Only) a Technical Issue”, accessed 2nd November 2011, the World Bank (http://www.worldbank.org/urban/solid_wm/erm/Annexes/US%20
Sizes/Annex%204B.3.pdf)

Process: those are:
- Stakeholders;
- The Waste System Elements; and
- The Sustainability Aspects of the SWM
System.
Stakeholders have different roles and

interests in relation to waste management;
the challenge of the ISWM process is to get
them to agree to cooperate for a common
purpose, that of improving the waste
management.
The waste management elements refer to Figure 17A SWM Hierarchy
how solid waste is handled and where it
ends up. The idea of a waste management
hierarchy80 has been taken as an operational
policy guideline, due to the important
environmental implications of where solid iii) Identify the strong and weak points of the
waste ends up (Figure 17 A). current SWM: It is important to identify
the true character of the current SWM
The sustainability aspects could be defined and establish a basis of its shortfalls,
as principles, or lenses, through which constraints and/or strong points.
the existing waste management could be iv) Prepare the appropriate SWM action
assessed and with which a new or expanded plans: It is the core of the planning
management could be planned. In order the procedures as it defines the actions to be
new or the expanded SWM to be sustainable, implemented and which will establish the
it needs to consider all of the technical, new SWM.
environmental, health, financial-economic, v) Provide guidelines on how to pass from
Socio-cultural institutional, legal and political the planning phase to the implementation
aspects. phase: It is crucial to ensure the
continuity between the planning process
5.1.1.1 Overview of ISWM Plan81 itself and the implementation. Therefore
the planning process should provide
SWM plans have a key role to play in detailed guidance on performance
achieving sustainable waste management. measures and information management,
More specifically a SWM plan aims to: both of which should be used to monitor
i) Define the baseline: Collecting reliable the performance of SWM and thus the
data and other information on the existing implementation of the SWM Plan.
waste situation, for national, provincial vi) Control of technological measures: An
or local government, or for a specific outline of waste ensures identification
industry, is a critical first step in compiling of areas in that technological measures
an integrated waste management plan. should be taken to eliminate or minimise
The aim of gathering this background certain types of waste.
information is to provide a realistic and vii) Outline of governance requirements:
quantitative basis for the development SWM plans make way for statement
of the plan, based on actual data and of financial, institutional and social
prioritized requirements and needs. requirements. On this basis, the need for
ii) Identify the roles & responsibilities future actions, such as investments in
of key stakeholders: When preparing SWM plans, public awareness campaigns,
an ISWM plan attention should be training courses for the relevant
placed on ensuring that the roles and authorities, etc., would be determined.
responsibilities of key stakeholders are
clearly defined.
80. (Figure Source: Carlos Silva Filho, SWM in Brazil: Situation and Perspectives, The ISWA World SW Congress 2012)
81. ISWA, “Solid Waste: Guidelines for Successful Planning”, 2012

5 5.1.1.2 The Planning Process v) The Monitoring & Review Phase: The
monitoring and review phase involves
The planning process of a SWM consists activities that identify the actions that
of the following five major phases, as shall be monitored and the relevant
demonstrated in Figure 17 B: indicators of performance. Indicators
are then estimated and the applied SWM
i) The Mobilising Phase: It is the phase prior is evaluated and reviewed. Wherever
the beginning of the planning process. In deficiencies and low performance are
the initial phase of the SWM planning it observed additional action to improve the
is substantial to implement activities that applied SWM has to be implemented.
will mobilise the planning process. These
activities are mainly related to ‘Mobilizing
Support’ activities that include the
‘Political Support’ and the ‘Stakeholders’
Participation. In that way it is ensures
the engagement and cooperation of
the main stakeholders, factors that will
“push” forward the procedure to proper
implementation.
ii) The Status Phase: It is the phase that a

comprehensive baseline of the current
situation in SWM is created. Aim of the
baseline is to evaluate the range of
institutional, technical and promotional
aspects of current SWM and define key
shortfalls and constrains. This valuable
management of information forms a
benchmark for the design of an improved
SWM.
iii) The Planning Phase: It involves all

the activities required to prepare an
appropriate SWM action plan. The
planning part is prepared in accordance
to the baseline, the requirements set by
the national legislation and the relevant
assumptions for projecting future
developments.
iv) The Implementation Phase: After the

development of the SWM plan, its
assumptions are put into practice via the
appropriate legislative, technological and
logistic approach. An implementation
program has to be prepared.
Figure 17A The planning

process of a SWM
system
Source: ISWA, “Solid Waste:
Guidelines for Successful
Planning”, 2012)

5.1.1.3 General Structure of a Monitoring & Review
SWM Plan - Define the actions to be monitored;
- Define the means and right indicators to
The detailed structure of the waste measure the performance of the applied
management master plan depends on its SWM system; and
specific purpose and area, the time horizon - Assess & review the applied SWM system.
as well as the local legislation needs83.
However, a broad approach of the elements 5.1.1.4 Issues of Concern
in a solid waste management plan is:
Before moving to the implementation of a
Background: SWM Master Plan, there are certain issues
- Overall waste problematic’ that should be taken into consideration.
- Legislation; Those are:
- Description of national waste policy and - The scope of the master plan;
prevailing principles; - Time horizon of the plan;
- Description of objectives set up in specific - Stakeholders in the planning process;
areas; and - The role of informal sector;
- Inputs from the consultation process. - Public awareness and communication;
- Identification and prioritization of needs;
Status Part - Environmental impact of the master plan;
- Diagnosis of Current Waste Management - Time schedule of the master plan; and
o Waste sources & streams; - Relationship with other plans
o Amounts of wastes & types;
o Existing waste management system; 5.1.1.5 Benefits of ISWM Approach
and
o Economics & financing of the WM Considering the issues discussed in this
system. section, adopting the ISWM approach could
- Projections bring clear benefits including:
o Socio-economic projections; and - Lower costs of waste management;
o Waste projections. - Less environmental pollution (of soil,
- Conclusions water and air);
o Strong and weak points. - Conservation of raw materials;
- Better coordination between urban
Planning Part services;
- Assumptions for planning; - More active citizens who contribute to
- Definition of the scope of the plan; urban development;
- Proposal of scenarios; - People that are more satisfied with the
- Setting goals & targets; and service provided and are less inclined to
- Action Plan. subversive activities;
- Better image of the city / country;
Implementation Part - Fewer health hazards;
- Establish instruments for the - Better cost management and higher cost
implementation of a waste management recovery;
plan - Better performance waste management
o Policy instruments; departments; and
o Legal instruments; - Potential increased income from tourism,
o Economic instruments; agriculture and other major economic
o Environmental agreements / activities.
partnerships;
o Public awareness and communication;
and
o Planning.

5
Box 13 EU Principles for Waste Management84
- Waste management hierarchy: Waste certainty should not be used as an excuse for
management strategies must aim primarily to failing to act. Where there is a credible risk to the
prevent the generation of waste and to reduce environment or human health from acting or not
its harmfulness. Where this is not achievable, acting with regard to waste that serves to provide
waste materials should be reused, recycled or a cost effective response to the risk identified
recovered, or used as a source for generating should be pursued.
energy. As a final resort, waste should be - Producer responsibility: Economic operators, and
disposed of safely (e.g. by incineration or in landfill particularly manufacturers of products, have to be
sites). involved in the objective to close the life cycle of
- Self-sufficiency at Community and, if possible, substances, components and products from their
at Member State level. Member States need to production throughout their useful life until they
establish, in co-operation with other Member become waste.
States, an integrated and adequate network of - Polluter pays: Those responsible for generating
waste disposal facilities. or for the generation of waste, and consequent
- Best available technique not entailing excessive adverse effects on the environment, should be
cost (BATNEEC): Emissions from installations to required to pay the costs of avoiding or alleviating
the environment should be reduced as much as those adverse consequences. A clear example
possible and in the most economically efficient could be seen in the Landfill Directive.
way.
- Proximity: Wastes should be disposed of as close
to the source of their generation as possible.
- Precautionary principle: The lack of full scientific
5.2 National Responsibilities

The National responsibilities towards the efficient execution of Integrated Solid Waste
establishment of an ISWM system are Management Sector’s targeted tasks.
diverse and vital to the creation of the
system. The establishment of the Integrated The Integrated Solid Waste Management
Solid Waste Management Sector (ISWMS) Sector (ISWMS) will take the charge of
is an important step however, it will need developing the waste management sector,
enacting legislation, enforcement of formulating policy, preparing legislation
necessary guidelines with clear incentives and regulative measures, and assisting
and disincentives, land allocations allowing the implementation of an integrated
the establishment of well-managed transfer financial and technical support programme
stations, treatment facilities and sanitary from the German Government and the
landfills, financial incentives such as tax European Union33. Assistance from other
holidays and customs’ exemptions, SWM international development partners in the
budget allocations, green procurement waste management sector will be sought
guidelines, etc. under the framework of the NSWMP. ISWMS
will take charge of waste management
Accordingly, the national government, policy and strategy implementation and will
as well as local authorities, has a role in also lead investment programming and
developing and implementing support provide support to the Governorates and
policies and guidelines conducive of the Municipalities.
82. Handbook on the Implementation of EC Environmental Legislation, Section 4: Waste Management Legislation, 2008

Greening the waste sector will require the service it describes benefits the environment
articulation of a waste management policy by being sustainable and/or reducing
based on the internationally accepted waste negative environmental impacts. Green
hierarchy. Using the word “green” as an waste management puts reduce, reuse,
adjective generally means that the product or recycle and recover the resource into action.
Box 14 The main roles and responsibilities of the Integrated Solid Waste
Management Sector (ISWMS)32
9. Project identification and design: Technical
1. Policy: Setting national waste management policy assistance to support Governorates and
including objectives and targets. Municipalities in preparing waste management
2. Strategy: Development, implementation and plans and integrated, bankable SWM concepts.
updating of national waste management strategy 10. Guidelines and standards: Preparation and
and action plan. dissemination of best practices guidelines;
3. Legislation: Drafting waste management development of technical and environmental
legislation, and supporting the passage of standards.
legislation through parliament. 11. Information and data: Collection and reporting of
4. Economic & financial instruments: Research information and data (e.g. from Governorates and
and establishment of appropriate economic and Municipalities).
financial measures. 12. Knowledge management: Collection and sharing
5. Parliamentary briefings: Support to the Minister of best practices amongst national and regional
in Parliamentary briefings and subcommittees. networks.
6. Stakeholder dialogue: Coordination of inter- 13. National focal point: Information and advisory
sectoral dialogue on SWM issues service.
7. Investment planning/promotion: Investment 14. Monitoring & evaluation: Collection and
planning/pipelining, identification and promotion publishing of key performance indicators and data
of investment opportunities in the waste 15. Research & Development: Management of R&D
management sector. programs.
8. Program management/coordination: 16. Awareness raising: Behaviour change,
Management of programs financed by communications and environmental education.
government and international development 17. Tariff Policy: Financial regulation, including
partners. establishing affordability benchmarks.
The 3Rs offer an environmentally friendly structured or reorganised production

alternative to deal with the growing processes so that the solid waste of one
generation of solid wastes and offer a unique industry becomes a valued input to another
opportunity to local and national authorities one (industrial symbiosis). The 3Rs also
for the conception of a more furnished goes hand in hand with the Green Economy
human urban environment by effectively concept, as both determine for extracting/
promoting resource efficiency and waste using less resources and creating less waste.
prevention as a top priority within the overall
policy, planning and development. The 3Rs On the other hand, there is a need for the
provide opportunities for source reduction Integrated Solid Waste Management Sector
(increased resource efficiency/minimise (ISWMS) to fundamentally orient the policy
raw material input), waste prevention/ directions towards resource efficient and
minimisation of environmental risks through zero waste society through the development
eco‐friendly designs and products, and of policy instruments that encourage waste

5 prevention and minimisation based on accelerated depreciation allowances and
the public private partnership (PPP) and enhanced deduction of expenditure or
extended producer responsibility (EPR). combination of more than one of these
Zero waste is a ‘whole system’ approach methods. Tax holiday benefit should be
to resource management that maximises extended to SWM for developing urban
recycling, minimises waste, reduces infrastructure.
consumption and ensures that products
are made to be reused, repaired or recycled The Integrated Solid Waste Management
back into nature or the marketplace. Zero Sector (ISWMS) will facilitate the investment
waste aims to minimise use of resources programming and implementation
and maximise the ongoing benefits of the component of the NSWMP. Investments
inherent value within the waste generated by will be implemented at both regional and
society. local levels, under the leadership of the
Governorates. The role of the Integrated Solid
Multi-stakeholders involvement is envisaged Waste Management Sector (ISWMS) will be
in the formulation of the national SWM to coordinate, guide and assist the process
policy, strategy, preparation of legislation, of decentralised implementation of improved
planning and implementation of services. infrastructure and services.
The Integrated Solid Waste Management
Sector (ISWMS) will consult stakeholders The ISWMS will provide Guidelines for
to define policies that will progressively sound financial management practices for
help formalising the recycling sector and SWM at the local level. This will include the
support in the growth of the Egyptian developments of templates and models –
recycling businesses. Moreover, ISWMS will covering all data input needs to assist local
consolidate and prepare a waste framework governments to undertake proper financial
law within the framework of public and planning. Moreover, NSWMP and ISWMS
stakeholders’ consultations.32. The final will prepare guidelines and models for
draft of the law will be used to establish preparation of regional waste management
a basis for identifying SWM secondary plans.
legislation and decrees.
The Integrated Solid Waste Management The ISWMS will assess in detail, and
Sector (ISWMS) will coordinate with the consult with development and commercial
relevant Ministries and institutions to banks to establish seed financing to put in
review the current tariff structure in Egypt place an SWM SME fund. Procedures for
and explore other possible scenarios that accessing credit and grant support from
could achieve more efficient SWM along this fund will be designed to enable access
with raising revenues. Pay-As-You-Throw from new entrant entrepreneurs, recycling
(PAYT) is a system where households pay associations, and SMEs. Moreover, the
for garbage collection by the amount of ISWMS will assess and put in place other
trash discarded, rather than a flat fee. This mechanisms for stimulating development
provides a financial incentive to recycle of the national waste management industry,
and reduce the amount of waste discarded. eg. Operator models that favour participation
Under traditional solid waste collection and of smaller companies, pro-SME contract
disposal systems, residents pay indirectly for clauses, tax relief for start-up enterprises,
the service through a flat fee attached to their recycling parks, and other support
electricity bill. With a PAYAT Programme, measures33.
residents pay directly for collection services
based on the amount of waste thrown away. The ISWMS will establish a communication
Some communities that have instituted division responsible for participatory
PAYT systems have seen their overall waste monitoring and evaluation; social
disposal rate decline 25-45% 83. assessment; awareness raising and
behaviour change; and social integration
Tax incentives could be granted by way of and informal sector empowerment. This
full tax holidays, partial tax holidays where division will also help in institutionalising
only a portion of profits and income will the participatory monitoring and evaluation
be exempted, concessionary tax rates, process and give it an official form.
83. US EPA, URL (http://www.epa.gov/region7/waste/solidwaste/reduce_waste.htm)

5.3 Economic Instruments
Economic instruments (EIs), also iii) Non-revenue instruments, these could
known as market-based instruments, combine a fee with a subsidy whereas
comprise all incentives/disincentives that the fee is waived when the desired
mobilise the self-interest of consumers, effect is reached, e.g. time/target-linked
producers, and service providers to make tax-holidays for certain SWM tasks or
environmental upgrades or moderate projects.
adverse environmental consequences.
These instruments might be used to address EIs could be used as a tool in SWM to85 :
basic environmental needs, or might - Reduce the amount of waste generated;
motivate actions to address environmental - Reduce the proportion of hazardous
protection beyond the prescribed minimum waste in the waste generated;
accepted standards of command-and control - Segregate hazardous waste for special
regulatory approaches. handling and disposal;
- Encourage recovery, reuse and
There is a growing interest in the use of EIs recycling of wastes;
in environment policy making. Generally, - Support cost-effective SW collection,
EIs have a great potential in supporting the transport, treatment and disposal
command-and-control measures decreed by systems;
government. They introduce more flexibility, - Minimise adverse environmental
efficiency and cost-effectiveness into SWM impacts related to SW collection,
measures. EIs could work harmoniously transport, treatment and disposal
with traditional regulatory mechanisms systems, and
as well as help provide the necessary - Generate revenues to cover costs.
funds for supporting sound environmental
management initiatives such as recycling and For furthering these environmental
waste disposal facilities. The proper design objectives, economic instruments could
and enacting of implementable EIs should be generate incentives and disincentives
an integral effort in future SWM activities. at different stages of the WM process,
most importantly at the stage of waste
The use of appropriate EIs could help generation, waste treatment and waste
to achieve sustainable development by disposal (cf, Figure 18) 86. At each stage
providing the means of internalising of the SWM process, different economic
environmental degradation and resource instruments might be appropriate to further
depletion costs into the production and the respective environmental objectives.
consumption process84. For example, waste charges might initiate
incentives for improved separation and
In general, EIs could be broadly classified general waste reduction at the stage of waste
into three categories: generation. Deposit-refund systems might
i) Revenue-raising instruments, e.g. raise conceive incentives for better collection
capital or cover operational cost for at the same stage. At the stage of waste
establishment and operation of SWM treatment, Advanced Recycling Fees (ARFs)
programmes; could provide revenue for the recycling
ii) Revenue-providing instruments; e.g. processes so that recycling of certain
mechanism that encourage to install products might be increased. At the stage of
a desirable behaviour based on user waste disposal, landfill taxes could originate
charges such as waste collection and disincentives for landfill disposal and divert
tipping fees, or fines to eliminate wrong waste streams to other waste management
SWM practices (e.g. littering, burning), or methods such as recycling instead.
deposit-refund programs; and
84. UNEP, Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research & Analysis (KIPPRA) and the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) (2005), “Selection,
Design, and Implementation of Economic Instruments in the Solid Waste Management Sector in Kenya: The Case of Plastic Bags”
85. IDB (2003), “Economic Instruments for Solid Waste Management: Global Review and Applications for Latin America and the Caribbean”, Environment
Network regional policy dialogue study series, Inter-Americould Development Bank, Washington DC
86. Kai Schlegelmilch, Eike Meyer and Damian Ludewig, “Economic Instruments in the Waste Management Sector: Experiences from OECD and Latin
Americould Countries”, Green Budget Germany, GTZ

5
Criteria for Choosing Instruments does the instrument require affordable

There are dozens of potential solid waste and available levels of skill and effort to
instruments that each country might implement and monitor;
implement. The global literature does not - Revenue usefulness – i.e., are revenues
provide adequate comparative information generated able to be applied to
to conclude whether certain economic address the environmental objectives
instruments are better than others. The of the instrument and adequate to set
data are not available to assess the extent to measurable improvement;
which any instrument would reduce waste, - Ease of implementation and replicability
increase recycling, reduce toxics, generate – i.e., are the relative costs and benefits
revenues, etc. Choice depends on local relatively easy to assess and the legal
priorities, preferences, and abilities. Local requirements for introducing the new
capacity, public interest, and ability to pay instrument reasonable;
are just a few of the differences between - Acceptance – i.e., does the general
countries that influence choice87. public and the affected industries
accept the instrument as a viable
The following evaluation criteria are means of cost-effectively achieving
recommended to be considered: environmental improvement without
- Environmental effectiveness – i.e., adversely affecting competitiveness,
does the instrument lead to the desired employment, income distribution, and
environmental improvements, such trade;
as reduction in waste generation, - Distributional effects – i.e., is there
increased waste recycling, reduced distributional disparity or inequitability
emissions from transport and disposal; in the application or impact of the
- Economic cost-effectiveness – i.e., does instrument, particularly regarding
the instrument generate incentives effects on lower income households,
for investment and innovation toward small businesses, and disadvantaged
reduction of pollution control costs; parties;
- Administrative cost-effectiveness – i.e., - Short-term results – i.e., does the
87. Sandra Cointreau and Constance Hornig (2003), “Global Review of Economic Instruments for Solid Waste Management in Latin America”, Regional Policy
Dialogue, Inter-Americould Development Bank, Washington, DC, USA

instrument have the potential to result - Waste type applicability -- i.e., does the
in sufficient short term improvement instrument address a wide range of
to motivate political administrators to waste types and has significant impact
undertake commitment to the costs on overall urban waste quantities, or
associated with the instrument under does the instrument address only a
their political term; limited number of unique and important
- Economic development enhancement waste types.
– i.e., does the instrument provide
an environment that maintains trade Annex 6 provides a global review of market-
competitiveness and inspires industrial based instruments that have potential
development and employment application to solid waste management.
generation; and
Figure 18 Economic
instruments of the
different stages of the
waste management
process88
5.4 Financial Sustainability (cost

recovery and other measures)
Processes for planning SWM capital New sources of financing are required for
expenditures are lacking or absent in sector reform and for the planning and
Egypt. Capital purchases of equipment’s implementation of new SWM. Financing
are generally treated on a single year basis could come from public or private sector
and are not generally included in SWM entities, and from internal and external
service cost recovery structures. Recurrent sources. Traditional sources of financing
costs are borne through Governorate could include allocations from general
financing, usually through a combination revenues and loans/credits from the
of special SWM levy and allocations from international community. More innovative
general revenues. The Government and options include forms of concession contract
Governorates participate directly and and application of the “polluter pay” principle
indirectly in the financing and cost recovery to manufacturers, importers and distributors.
of MSWM.
The design of mechanisms that link recovery
Although good quality data on current SWM of SWM costs to the amount of waste
expenditures is not readily available, it is generated, how it is managed and who is
apparent that the proportion of total costs responsible for its creation is critical to
covered by special cost recovery mechanisms achieving enhanced SWM that are financially
is nowhere more than 65 percent of total sustainable, protective of human health and
operating costs1. Cost recovery mechanisms the environment that minimise the amount of
are not directly related to the extent to which waste requiring management88. An essential
individuals and entities either generate waste first step in developing a cost recovery
or use SWM services. Concepts of “full cost schedule consistent with this approach is to
accounting”, “user-pay” and “polluter pay” assign a cost to all elements and negative
have not generally been applied with respect impacts of the SWM, a technique known as
to SWM. Full Cost Accounting (FCA).
88. GTZ-ERM-GKW, “Solid Waste Management Finance and Cost Recovery”, Issue Paper 2, METAP Regional Solid Waste Management Project The World Bank,
2005

5 Reform of financing and cost recovery For the majority of municipalities, the
frameworks in Egypt is essential to the understanding for total expenditures of SWM
financial sustainability of enhanced SWM and the need to refinance municipal services
systems. Financial and cost recovery to sustain SWM is rather meager. The actual
frameworks should be adopted that reflect money available for SWM services is often
the following90: based on the outcome of budget negotiations.
- Application of the “polluter pay” The FCA is considered as a useful tool to
principle; clarify management and service costs and
- Full cost accounting; to support planning and SWM budgeting. An
- Application of the user-pay principle; example of the approach used to form the
- Establishment of funds for capital FCA in a city is given in the following Figure
purchase/replacement; 19.
- Allocation of funds for SWM recurrent
expenditures; and Other reasons to apply FCA are:
- Local decision making on SWM i) To identify hidden costs;
financing and cost recovery within the ii) To trace and reform inefficiencies of a
context of the national policy. program;
iii) To evaluate scenarios considering
Often decision makers are unaware of the financial aspects and potential
legal and environmental issues and lack environmental impacts on SWM; and
knowledge regarding SWM89. The applied iv) To investigate the potential for
FCA assists decision makers to better implementing new and innovative
understand constraints and benefits of systems, especially to secure refinancing
their SWM by clarifying budget needs and based on user fees whereby citizen’s
management components in a transparent participation and incentives for waste
and comprehensive manner. reduction at source are provided
likewise90.
Figure 19 An example of
Full Cost Accounting91
89. Jouke D. Boorsma, Rene G. Gaudiel and Johannes G. Paul, “Cost Recovery Mechanism to enhance Solid Waste Management in Bayawan City, Philippines:
Experiences and Potentials”, GIZ, 2011
90. A. Karagiannidis, A. Xirogiannopoulou and G. Tchobanoglous, “Full Cost Accounting as a Tool for the Financial Assessment of Pay-As-You-Throw Schemes: A
Case Study for the Panorama Municipality, Greece”, Waste Management, 28, 2801-2808, 2008.

If cost recovery becomes a serious The principle behind this use of fees is to
issue, one of the first steps is to analyse make ordinary disposal more expensive so as
the potential for differentiating fees by to stimulate and finance recycling and safe
categories of household and business disposal, and to push people to choose more
users, so that those who are able to pay environmentally friendly alternatives. This
more cross-subsidise those who could pay only works when the alternatives are easily
only a little91. This is complicated because accessible and the clients know how to use
the number of individuals and sub-units them.
within a ‘household’ or ‘compound’ varies
widely, especially in cultures that support Financial sustainability is more than about
polygamy. A more feasible approach is to money, it is a link between financial and
set a fee per ‘connection’ based on average economic dispenses and other elements with
socioeconomic settings in the different wards the ISWM framework:
in the city, with the possibility of granting - Urban expansion and the growth in
exceptions to the general rule based on waste generation stimulate a process
specific characteristics. A second approach is of modernisation. The net result
to announce that cost recovery is coming, but of modernisation is that the costs
to start without charges for a period of time, associated with the WM public service
such as a year, and to use this time to gather are likely to increase.
data, to evaluate the impacts of rainy and dry - A budget for solid waste management
seasons and cyclical changes on the waste is important for organising the use of
stream, to optimise routing, to organise fee funds. Budgets guide the municipality
administration and to open communication in spending public money, and they
channels with users. Actually recovering are a tool that taxpayer-citizens could
costs might take even longer. use to hold the municipal authority
Political and social approval of cost recovery accountable.
requires a well thought out communication - Cost recovery is one of the sources
strategy. Cost recovery is like any kind of of funds for solid waste services.
negotiated agreement, it only works if there Municipalities have more variety but
is a sense of a contract covering that pays less structure for cost recovery, so they
for what in what circumstances. In SWM, the have a greater need for legal, fiscal
users have to participate in planning, make and institutional support for analysis,
choices and pay; and the providers have policymaking and implementation.
to interpret the choices made in terms of - Cost recovery depends on the
implementation, provide the service, satisfy ‘willingness to pay,’ another term for
the users and use the income wisely. the price elasticity of public goods, and
is a complex and often misunderstood
Fees could also be used to influence waste- issue. Fees have to be in line with
related behaviour. Volume-based pricing is priority of citizens for a clean immediate
used to encourage household and business neighbourhood, on what is understood
generators of waste to make use of recycling to be an adequate and reliable service.
and composting options, so that they have - Recycling materials within the recycling
less waste to throw away. One approach is supply chain involves a completely
that, in order to use the disposal system, different set of rules than that of
clients have to buy special bags or special public services and should be seen
tags to prepay for disposal. The introduced as the private trading of private goods
Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) system motivates characterised by supply and demand.
users to actively avoid waste generation at - Modernisation requires municipalities
source. to understand the differences between
SW services and commodity trading.
91. Anne Scheinberg, “Closing the circle: Bringing Integrated Sustainable Waste Management Home’, VNG International, Waste, July 2008

5 - Recycling is not a source of revenue, existing private sector activity could be
and should not be relied upon to a win-win proposition, protecting the
finance SW services. Nevertheless, it is environment, feeding resources to local
a source of benefit, and could reduce industry and agriculture, and reducing
the costs of modern, environmentally municipal costs for waste management
sound, services. services and disposal.
- Poorly conceived recycling schemes
could be a lose-lose proposition, with Egypt has to initiate programmes in SWM
poor people losing their livelihoods, financing, which include FCA, engaging the
markets for recyclables flooded with public in accepting the waste fee system,
low-value materials, and an increased and institutionalising the cost-recovery
burden on municipal dumping sites. mechanism in the form of local ordinance.
- Well-designed recycling that builds on
5.5 Extended Producer Responsibility

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) material usage and downsizing products, and
is a policy concept aimed at extending engaging in a host of other so called “design
producers’ responsibility for their products to for environment” (DfE) activities.
the post-consumer stage of their products’
lifecycle. EPR is an important tool in a EPR might be applied both to industrial
sustainable ISWM. The concept, design and wastes and to packaging and post-consumer
implementation demand understanding waste. In many countries existing waste
and consent of a variety of public/private management policies towards industrial
stakeholders (manufacturers) as per and post-consumer wastes differ, and
products’ environmental impacts and the consequently the effects of a shift to EPR-
responsibility towards paying for the cost of based policies might differ somewhat
post-consumer impacts of their products. between these two components of the
overall waste stream. Nevertheless the
Approaches to EPR implementation are basic rationale and characteristics of EPR
usually through mandatory legislation, programmes are common to a wide range of
voluntary participation or negotiated programmes, including programmes relating
agreements where policy mechanisms to both industrial and household (post-
include take-back requirements, recycling consumer) wastes.
and disposal tax, deposit and refund fees and
minimum recycled content. There are several key motivating factors
driving EPR policy development. One
Since the term Extended Producer motivation for EPR is to reduce the overall
Responsibility (EPR) was first coined and costs of SWM, by establishing incentives
the German packaging take-back law was for producers to consider the end-of-life
passed in the early 1990s, the EPR concept waste management costs of their products.
has become an established principle of It is important to emphasis here that the
environmental policy in many countries92. A relevant costs are not just the direct financial
core characteristic of any EPR policy is that expenditures incurred by those responsible
it places some responsibility for a product’s for waste management, but a wider and
end-of-life environmental impacts on the more comprehensive concept of costs,
original producer and seller of that product. including both monetary and non-monetary
The thinking behind this approach is that costs incurred by all parties affected by waste
it will provide incentives for producers to management policies.
make design changes to products that
would reduce waste management costs. The policy instruments that lie under the
Those changes should include improving EPR umbrella include different types of
product recyclability and reusability, reducing product fees and taxes commonly called
92. Working Group on Waste Prevention and Recycling, “EPR Policies and Product Design: Economic Theory and Selected Case Studies”, Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Feb. 2006

“advance recycling fees” (ARFs), product (PROs), and the financing mechanism that
take-back mandates, raw material taxes, and the PRO uses is a critical determinant of the
combinations of all these instruments. EPR option’s cost-effectiveness.
instruments are contrasted with non-EPR
policies such as “pay-as you-throw” waste The EPR programmes implemented in
collection charges, landfill bans, and others89. individual countries differ widely, in a number
of respects, including the industries and
It is argued that a cost-effective instrument products covered the policy context in which
will be one that exploits all the possible they have been introduced, the nature of the
avenues for waste reduction – i.e., source responsibilities placed on producers, the
reduction, recycling, material substitution, forms of organisation, and the economic,
and product design changes – and not just social and cultural context in which the
a single method. This means that policy programmes operate.
options such as a combined ARF/recycling An EPR programme involving product
subsidy work better than an instrument that take-back, producer-financing of waste
just targets, say, recycling. The take-back management costs, and recycling
option is difficult to evaluate conceptually targets is not the only way in which these
since much depends on how it is waste management objectives could be
implemented in practice. All systems operate addressed93. A range of possible alternative
with producer responsibility organisations policy instruments might be employed.
Box 15 List of common waste minimisation policy instruments95

• Product take-back retailers) might be responsible for collecting the
Producers are assigned the responsibility of taking- deposit, and for end-of-life collection and refund.
back their products at the end of their useful life
. • Recycling incentives
• End-of-life waste management fees Measures to stimulate recycling markets could
Consumers are charged all or part of the marginal include subsidies paid for the collection of materials
collection and treatment costs of general household for recycling (or direct public provision of collection
waste or of specific waste products through an facilities), subsidies paid to reprocessing firms, or
“end-of-life” fee. This might be a charge per bag or subsidies to users of recycled materials. The use
per kilogram of general household refuse (“pay as of recycled materials could also be encouraged by
you throw”), or a specific charge for the collection regulations requiring minimum recycled-materials
and treatment of a particular item (e.g. car tyres, content in certain products, or by taxes on virgin
refrigerator, end-of-life vehicle, etc) materials.
• Advance disposal fee • Disposal disincentives

A tax or charge might be levied at the time a product Taxes on landfill disposal or incineration might act
is sold, at a level intended to reflect the end-of-life to influence both the choice of disposal option (e.g.
waste management costs of the product. Producers might influence the choice between landfill and
might be responsible for collecting the charge incineration) and might also discourage disposal
and remitting it to the public authorities, but are in any form, compared with recycling and waste-
otherwise not necessarily involved in the collection or reduction. However, such taxes will normally only
disposal of wastes. influence the disposal choices of waste management
organisations (e.g. municipal waste management
• Mandatory deposit-refund system agencies), and unless supplemented by other
A deposit is levied at the time the product is sold, and measures will not influence consumer or producer
all or part of the deposit is later refunded when the decisions that affect the quantity or characteristics of
product (or its packaging - e.g. a bottle) is returned waste generated.
for reuse, recycling or safe disposal. Producers (or
93. Working Group on Waste Prevention and Recycling, “Analytical Framework for Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Extended Producer Responsibility
Programmes”, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), March 2005

5 An EPR programme involving product Examples of EPR
take-back, producer-financing of waste
management costs, and recycling targets, i) Pro Europe (Packaging Recovery
generally has the potential to secure a Organisation Europe)
number of desired changes, including both Probably the best known example of
changes in product design (“design-for- EPR is seen in Europe. Founded in 1995,
environment” incentives) and changes in PRO Europe is organisation behind the
waste management towards greater use of well-known “Green Dot,” the umbrella
recycling. To achieve these endings through organisation for European packaging and
the use of other policy instruments would packaging waste recovery and recycling
normally require a combination of alternative schemes. The organisation is the general
policy measures. licensor of the “Green Dot” trademark, the
means by which producers signal that they
Country 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
EU (27 : : : : : : : : 54.6s 56.9s 59.2s 60.5s 62.3s
Countries)
Austria 64.5 64.9 65.6 69.4 64.3 65.9 64.2 66.2 66.9 68.4 67.2 67.9 66.9
Belgium 62.3 63.5 59.4 62.5 71.3 70.2 73.9 76.4 76.8 79 80.4 78.9 79.1
Bulgaria : : : : : : : : 30.8 35 54.8 50.3 45.9
Czech : : : : : : 51.4 55.7 59 63.4 65.9 67.1 68.8
Republic
Denmark 40.1 50 53 55.7 57.2 57.3 53.8 53.2 52.5 56.2 56.8 59.7 84
Germany 80.6 79.7 79.2 78 75.9 74.4 70.6 69.6 68.2 66.5 66.9 70.5 73.5
Estonia : : : : : : : 33.5 40.3 45.7 49.6 43.5 57.2
Ireland 15.2 14.8 17.4 18.9 27 34.9 51.2 56.4 55.6 54.5 60.6 61.7s 64.9
Greece 37 34.6 33.6 33.3 33.4 32.6 33.1 36.7 41.8 42.8 48 43.8 :
Spain 33.5 33.6 37.9 39.8 43.6 44.3 43.1 47.4 50.4 54 56.3 59.1 60.3
France 39.7 41.5 42.1 42.2 44 45.4 47.9 50.7 53.3 54.8 57 55.2 56.4
Italy 3 31.6 34 38.4 45.5 51.4 51.4 53.3 53.7 54.9 56.8 59.6 64
Cyprus : : : : : : : 22 11.1 25.2 25.7 34 42.2
Latvia : : : : : : : 45.6 47 42.2 39.6 46.8 44.9
Lithuania : : : : : : : 32.7 32.5 37 42.9 51.7 57.7
Luxemburg 38.4 41.8 39.8 45.2 57.3 56.8 60.1 61 62.6 63.8 62.5 63.6 61
Hungary : : : : : : : 43.3 45.9 48.9 46.4 50.8 51.1
Malta : : : : : : : 5.9 8.1 10.8 10.4 : :
Netherlands 55.2 62.4 63.6 58.8 56 57.4 56.4 58.5 59.4 70.2 69.8 72.4 74.9
Poland : : : : : : : 28.3 29.5 37.1 48.2 42.9 36.8
Portugal : 34.8 34.9 30.8 37.7 35.8 38.3 41 44.3 51.4 56.5 61 59.9
Romania : : : : : : : : 23 28.6 30.6 33.5 40.5
Slovenia : : : : : : : 34.3 45.3 40.3 46.9 52.4 49.6
Slovakia : : : : : : 36.3 37.6 29.8 36.3 61.1 47.7 59.9
Finland 41.7 44.6 49.5 49.8 47.2 49.2 40.8 39.9 43.2 49.1 51.9 56.7 55.5
Sweden 57.9 74.9 65.1 57.8 63.2 64.7 60 49.8 48.2 58.1 59.3 58.5 58.9
United 24.1 28.2 35.3 39.9 42.4 44.2 46.8 49.7 54.4 57.5 59.3 61.5 61.8
Kingdom

have paid for the cost of managing post-use ii) The German Packaging Ordinance
packaging. Rather than having producers System:
take responsibility for the physical recovery The German Packaging Ordinance (an EPR
of their own packaging, they take financial system) proved to influence all three of the
responsibility through licensing with PRO environmental objectives that have been
Europe to utilise the Green Dot. Today, twenty discussed in this section (Table 23):
five nations are now using the “Green Dot” - Well organised collection with high
as the financing symbol for the organisation collection results,
of recovery, sorting and recycling of sales - Increased recycling, and
packaging. - Promotion of DfE activities leading
to overall life cycle environmental
improvements of products and product
systems
Ordinance 1991** Revised Ordinance***
Collection Sorting Recycling* Recycling Recycling

1996 1996 1996 1996**** 1999
Glass 80% 90% 72% 70% 75%
Paper, cardboard 80% 80% 64% 50% 60%
Plastics 80% 80% 64% 50% 60%
Tinplate 80% 90% 72% 70% 70%
Table 23 The
Aluminium 80% 90% 72% 50% 60% German packaging
ordinance recycling
Beverage could 80% 80% 64% 50% 60% requirements96
* Recycling targets are implicit from the ordinance, **** In reality, a retroactive requirement
Sources: **Packaging Ordinance (1991)94 , *** Packaging Ordinance (1998)95
iii) The Swedish Packaging Ordinance 1997: of discarded packaging (Table 24). The
The Ordinance also requires the producers collection of waste packaging is organised
to organise a suitable collection system through the establishment of a number
that facilitates the separation of packaging of separate producer responsibility
waste. The producer is furthermore obliged organisations (in Swedish called
to inform households and others about “materialbolag”) for the various materials.
separation, collection and management
Table 22 Packaging recycling rates in

European Union countries
94. Group on Pollution Prevention and Control, “Extended Producer Responsibility, Phase 2, Case Study on the German Packaging Ordinance’, Environment
Directorate, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 15 Might, 1998
95. “Ordinance on the Avoidance and Recovery of Packaging Waste, in the Version Promulgated on 21 August 1998”, Federal Ministry for the Environment,
Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

5 Type of Packaging 1987 30 June 2001
Aluminium (non-beverage) 50% 70%
Paper and carton 30% 40% (70%**)
Corrugated cardboard 65% 65%
Plastic (not consumer ready beverage PET) 30% 30% (70%**)
Steel 50% 70%
Refillable glass bottles for soft drinks 95%
Refillable glass bottles for liquor 90%
Other glass packaging 70% 70%
Beverage could of aluminium 90% 90%
Table 24 Recycling
requirements in the PET bottles 90% 90%
Swedish ordinance
on producer’s Wooden 15% (70%**)
responsibility for
packaging Other materials (for each material type) 15% (30%**)
*Reuse requirement, for bottles filled in Sweden only, **Total recovery requirement
iv) Couldada, a Leader in EPR and energy conservation, biodiversity

Implementation: preservation, source reduction, waste
Known as “Stewardship Program”, defines minimisation, and pollution prevention.
its EPR objective as follows96:
“Stewardship, or the responsible Program Design Principles
management of the environment and its a) EPR programs transfer end-of-life
natural resources, requires governments, responsibility for waste product
industry and consumers to assume a or materials to producers from
greater responsibility for ensuring that the municipalities and other waste
products we manufacture, use, reuse or management authorities.
dispose of have a minimum impact on the b) Potential programs undergo a
environment“. comprehensive analysis to assess
The objective of the Couldada-Wide whether they are appropriate for EPR and
Principles for EPR is to assist and support to define the role of the various actors in
jurisdictions in the development of EPR the product chain.
programs. The overarching goals of the c) Policy instruments selected are flexible
principles are to minimise environmental and determined on a case-by-case basis.
impacts, maximise environmental d) Local governments and other
benefits, promote the transfer of end-of- stakeholders are participated to discuss
life responsibility for the product and/or environmental goals, objectives, priorities
material to the producer, and encourage and performance measurement, and to
design for environment (DfE). Design for enhance a program’s acceptability and
environment (DfE) examines a product’s effectiveness.
entire lifecycle and proposes changes to how e) EPR program and policy development
a product is designed in order to minimise and implementation are based on
its environmental footprint. Incorporating transparency.
DfE might contribute to natural resource
96. “Couldada-Wide Principles for Extended Producer Responsibility”, Couldadian Council of the Ministers of Environment, June 21, 2007

Implementation Principles iii) EPR programs undergo periodic
i) Programs and policies are designed and evaluations to ensure that they are
implemented in a way that environmental functioning appropriately, are subject to
welfares are maximised while economic performance measurement, and include
dislocations are minimised. accessible and transparent reporting.
ii) A communication strategy is devised to iv) Costs of program management are not
inform participants in the product chain, borne by general taxpayers.
including consumers, about the program v) Consumers have reasonable access to
and enlist their support and co-operation. collection systems without charge, to
maximise recovery opportunities.
5.6 Financial Institutions Participation

Adequate financing is a cornerstone in
the establishment, operationalisation and There were attempts of a few interventions
sustainability of an efficient ISWM. Financing led by some international development
has many venues and participants, these organisations, such as KfW, USAID, CIDA
venues neither effective nor sustainable. and others to encourage Egyptian banks in
supporting environmental projects, however,
The waste management is taken care of by these attempts were limited as per duration
local government through its own budgetary and funds. Sustainability of these activities
resources. However, with rapid increase also failed to be self-sustained after the end
in waste generation rates and awareness of a specific assistance program.
for effective and efficient SWM practices to
protect public health and environment the Despite of huge financial reserves (liquid
demands for huge investments, to bring cash) in Egyptian financial institutions (over
improvements in many aspects of the SWM 220 billion LE), they are conservative in
chain, started rising. providing needed finance for MSWM projects.
They either have a negative perception of
Governorates must rely on a variety of the commercial viability of the activities, no
financial resources to fund the SWM adequate SWM project evaluation expertise,
services. In most cases, different resources prefer highly secured investments or
are used to finance capital investments than incapable of assessing a ‘bankable’ SWM
to finance operating and maintenance costs. project feasibility.
Financial institutions have clear mandates Several measures could be taken to

to profitability, clients’ receiving adequate encourage the engagement of Egyptian
and competitive returns on their deposits, financial institutions in participating in
and those are realised through financing and sustainable SWM projects. Foremost,
investing in reasonably-secured money tools through creating a win-win situation where
and projects. mutual benefits are evident and sustainable.
A most important objective is the active Creating a win-win situation:

participation in ‘economic development’ i) Role of Financial Institution: personnel
while engaging in projects’ finance capacity building in SWM projects’
where some ‘risk’ is involved. Taking evaluation, supporting the bank’s SMEs
reasonable calculated financial risks need department with SWM expertise, enacting
knowledgeable capability and innovative the social responsibility concept by
finance mechanisms, expertise might not be allocating funds for SWM community
existent within the current Egyptian banking projects, financial solutions to chronic
system. utilities problems (power generation

5 through waste-to-energy projects), soft markets for recycled materials and products.
loans (reduced interest rates). Government could allocate a portion of its
annual procurement for recycled products
Egyptian banks could also seek alliances thus encouraging the vitality of this business
with international finance bodies to pool and easing recycling activities’ quest for
some resources targeting the support of modernisation and expansion.
commercially-viable environmental projects.
iii) Role of Private Formal and Informal
ii) Role of Government: PPP and economic Sector: forming business alliances and
instruments, engaging private sector allocating joint resources for ISWM
through PPP framework for investment investments, seeking external partial
in alleviation actions is recently funding and suppliers credits (technology
encouraged in developing countries to providers...), and seeking the assistance
lessen the burden of public finance. PPP of donors in their quest for establishing
is a sourcing method for Government to viable commercial models in SWM.
increase participation of private entity
in delivery of public services. In a PPP iv) Role of International Development
project, the Government establish a long- Organisations (Donor Agencies): Grants,
term partnership with private entity to loan guarantees, technical assistance,
develop, construct, operate and maintain projects’ feasibility preparations,
public services such as to construct, capacity building support for financial
operate and maintain an integrated institutions in SWM projects’ evaluations.
sanitary landfill. SWM projects should Several international lending institutions
be included as a prioritised sector to be have been involved in financing SWM
developed as PPP. investments in economically developing
countries. Some of the most active
There are various business models by which institutions include The World Bank
PPP might be implemented, such as Build- and KfW. The financings have covered
Own-Operate (BOO), Build-Own-Transfer replacement and expansion of the
(BOT), Operate and Maintain, and Lease- SW collection fleets, construction
Develop-Operate. A PPP might be identified of transfer stations and purchase of
and prepared by the government (referred transfer trucks, design and construction
to as “solicited project”) or identified and of sanitary landfills and purchase of
proposed to the government by a business landfill equipment’s`, development
entity/project developer (referred to as of composting facilities, and others.
“unsolicited” project). The majority of the financings of SWM
projects have been included as part of
Another important role national and local development bank loans for large urban
authorities could initiate is establishing development projects.
5.7 Private Sector Participation

Private Sector when adequately engaged, assess past public/private coordination with
contracted and supported would offer the aim of building future collaboration based
a very effective venue in supporting the upon the true conviction of PSP role in Egypt.
overall SWM efforts. Previous experiences
with PS involvement might not provide The participation of the private sector in any
an encouraging model. However, wider or all of the activities associated with SWM
discussions and consultations are needed to could be a cost-effective solution. However,

the level and type of participation has to should support the proper and sustainable
be properly planned and implemented so transfer of SWM services to the private
that both the community and corporations sector. The existing legislations governing
involved benefit. Involvement of the private PSP should be enforced; and appropriate
sector in solid waste management should systems of monitoring and control must be
be treated as a partnership – among developed, along with relevant skills at the
local government, the contractor, and the respective Government and Governorate
community. levels.
The way forward: Moreover, one of the problems facing private

Prospects for the private sector companies is that basic recyclable wastes
engagements in MSWM are still largely are removed at the point of collection. The
dependent on the establishment of a strict, waste that was delivered to the treatment
secure regulatory framework, good public facilities was virtually dry recyclables-free.
governance and better access to finance. Waste pickers typically take away about
They are also constrained by the local 10-15% of the waste (by weight) that consist
authorities’ limited financial resources. To basic recyclable waste such as plastic, paper,
some extent, recycling and recovery activities glass and metals, reducing the nominal
are not affected by budgetary limitations. value of the waste. A private company that
processes such basic recyclables is most
The public authorities engaged in MSWM likely to face bottlenecks in the supply of
must be able to offer a clear, well-defined raw materials if it does not know how to
and securing contractual framework for ensure a proper supply. This important issue
the private sector. Public-private contracts needs a constructive dialogue and common
must be relatively long term so that private understanding between the informal sector
operators could customise and improve and private-contracted SWM companies. The
the services provided, while complying with business models of private companies need
municipal budgets. Shared responsibilities to take account of the informal sector – a
must be stated explicitly so that private sector with which they are in competition,
operators are best able to manage their but which also offers opportunities for
risks. cooperation.
Financial and legal stipulations (such as Accordingly, existing and future MSWM
penalties or termination conditions) must contracts need serious revamping to address
be included in the contract to ensure major challenges and that should be a
that private operators fulfil their role in a prioritised ‘stakeholders’ consultation’.
professional manner and comply with the
strategic framework (particularly in terms of The need for MSWM stakeholders’
service level and access). Ultimately, local coordination and collaboration is a
authorities must have the work force and priority. The establishment of the ISWMS,
sufficient resources to be able to monitor with sufficient power and resources,
and control contracts and, more generally, became evident to enable the efficient
implement a consistent public policy. coordinating role as well as monitoring the
implementation of the articulated policies
Private sector involvement in MSWM implies and action plans. Stakeholders’ discussions
a shift in the role of Government institutions, and interactions, as set by the proposed
from service provision to regulation, national authority, are essential to reach
delegation to the private sector and a national consensus and plan on MSWM
monitoring of the service provided by private effort.
companies. Public institutions in Egypt

5 A revised, revamped, MSWM action plan and the scope of the tasks included.
is needed and should be a priority task Opportunities for stepwise growth should
designed in accordance with the outcome of be considered;
wide stakeholders’ dialogue and agreement. - Allow enough time: The preparation of
a strategy and the tender documents,
The concept and mechanisms of the the preparation of bids by prequalified
ISWM approach must be adopted and companies, the preparation of contracts
the anticipated PSP should consider the and the mobilisation stage before full
engagement in the full spectrum of MSWM implementation all take more time than
activities and not only the end-of-pipe is normally allowed, if they are to be done
projects such as composting and/or waste- well;
to-energy. The failure of such projects, - Financial resources should be realistically
in their majority, is a direct result of the assessed. It might not be possible for a
absence of the ‘integrated’ vision. local government administration to do all
that it would like to do with the financial
The basic concept of ‘profitability’ must be resources that are available to it. It is
rooted and accepted by the public authorities essential, before a contract is signed, for
as PSP willingness to engage and function the administration to be sure that it will
mainly depends on it. Profitable business is be able to pay the contractor in full and on
a sustainable business capable of providing time;
and honouring contractual obligations. - Public awareness is not an optional
luxury, but an essential component in any
To attract private investments, the authorities successful private sector participation.
need to establish a strategic framework There should be an effective Programme
tai¬lored to local conditions and based on for gaining the cooperation and support of
consul¬tation with all local stakeholders. the public;
This must take into account the type of - Monitoring is not a means for showing
waste involved, the resources available and that the public sector is the stronger
the institutional setting. For a public waste partner, but is to motivate the service
management policy to be sustainable, a provider to operate according to the
pragmatic, customised and progressive contractual agreement; and
ap¬proach is essential. Such an approach is - Competition, transparency and
pref¬erable to applying high standards from community involvement are essential
the beginning. components in any strategy to ensure
value for money and to minimise
As to provide specific and concise the effects of corruption. If a public
recommendations, the GTZ study on private administration is not prepared to
sector involvement in SWM is a valuable embrace these characteristics, it is not
guiding document for PSP97. According to the ready to consider any kind of partnership
study, the following recommendations might with the private sector.
help local government agencies to become
successful clients: Despite all challenges, the waste sector
- Develop public sector capacity: Private could offer genuine economic opportunities.
sector participation demands new skills In an environment where the costs of
on the public sector side, so time must energy and raw materials are escalating,
be allowed for developing capacity, and waste represents an attractive resource;
competent advisors and trainers should processing it could become a profitable
be engaged; business – leading to the establishment of
- Develop a sound strategy: There are sustainable management practices within
many options in terms of the nature of the sector led by the effective engagement of
the client and the private sector service the private sector.
provider, the nature of the relationship
97. Adrian Coad (2005), “Private Sector Involvement in Solid Waste Management: Avoiding Problems and Building on Successes”, GTZ

5.8 Informal Sector Participation
In order to raise awareness, promote an concentrated in recycling neighbourhoods
adequate waste collection and treatment and and integrated in a complex value chain
to support the economic growth of the SWM and recycling industry. Besides the waste
sector in a sustainable way, efficient waste collectors, roamers buy trade and exchange
management must be established taking recyclable waste items. Waste pickers collect
into account the valuable contribution of the the waste by picking through dumps, landfills
informal sector. This integrated approach and street bins. Middlemen, intermediary
should comprise technical, environmental, buyers and wholesale merchants are also
legal, socioeconomic and financial aspects, involved in this informal waste system and
involving the key actors at different levels to small enterprises operate with recycling
ensure an effective implementation. machines, processing machines or
maintenance equipment.
The SW informal sector is an integral
and dynamic player in the national effort. The recycling industries in the zabaleen
Policy development/reform and planned settlements have developed extensive
engagement within the formal sector are upstream and downstream links with other
essential. Public and private sectors have informal and formal markets throughout
a major role in streaming the informal the country. In addition to collecting mixed
activities through continued dialogue, household waste, they also purchase source
negotiations and phased relationship segregated waste from commercial and
development. institutional waste generators, as well as
roamers, middlemen, etc. These are sold
According to the Inter¬national Labour either as end products or as inputs for
Organisation (ILO) the informal sector other manufacturing activities to large-
waste workers are defined as individu¬als scale industry and informal sector small
or small and micro-enterprises that enterprises. Trading and manufacturing
in¬tervene in waste management without networks have grown to cover the whole
be¬ing registered and without being country from Alexandria to Aswan.
formally charged with providing waste
management serv¬ices. This sector The industry has spawned its own dealers, its
“zabaleen, waste pickers, scrap collectors, own centres of production and recycling, and
traders and recyclers” is of¬ten not officially its own business culture of credit, trade and
recog¬nised and acknowledged, yet its finance.
members contrib¬ute significantly to the
waste management of Egypt, by collecting, After the privatisation of waste collection
sort¬ing, processing, storing and trading and disposal, international and local private
waste mate¬rials in the recycling value chain. enterprises became responsible for the
The informal sector is also a labour intensive, collection, recycling and disposal of waste
with low technology and low income98. and the zabaleen lost access to their main
source of income. They continue to intervene
Informal waste recycling involves urban selectively, and in certain neighbourhoods
poor and marginalised social groups who where national companies have taken over
use waste picking as a source of income, responsibility for waste collection and sub-
and often as their only survival strategy. In contract to zabaleen. But this collaboration
an unequal society, however, informal waste remains very limited and irregular. Private
recycling will continue for the foreseeable enterprise attempts to engage informal
future99. sector workers as waste collectors in
companies have not been very successful
A diversified network of collecting and because the majority of workers leave after
recycling activities has developed, a short time. For the moment, it seems as if
98. D. C. Wilson, C. Velis and C. Cheeseman (2006), “Role of Informal Sector Recycling in Waste Management in Developing Countries”, Habitat International, 30,
797–808
99. E. Sembiring and V. Nitivattananon (2010), “Sustainable Solid Waste Management Toward an Inclusive Society: Integration of the Informal Sector”,
Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 54, 802–809

5 the privatisation of waste collection services service needs and social rights. On the other
has hindered informal sector integration in side, improving collection and technology
waste management in Egypt. would limit the contribution of the informal
sector. Several steps should be conducted
Work in the informal recycling sec¬tor is to overcome this dilemma. The first step is
usually insecure, and carried out under changing the perception of decision makers
appalling health and occupational safety about the contribution of the informal sector.
con¬ditions, sometimes inhuman. Waste The second step will be strengthening the
pickers face great risks of injury, especially partnership among actors involved in the
those who work at open dumps: they might informal sector. Partnerships might induce
be run over by trucks or become the victims both human and social capitals that in turn
of surface sub¬sidence and fires. might increase the accumulation of other
capitals such as financial, physical, and
Integrating the informal sector into SWM public infrastructure. Accumulation of real
is not an easy task. Decision makers face capitals and increases in tangible capitals
dilemmas in integrating the informal might in turn reduce the social stigma
sector. On the one side, the informal sector against the informal sector100.
contributes to SWM but still requires basic
Box 16 SWACH - A Waste Pickers’ Cooperative in Pune, India102

Solid Waste Collection and Handling (SWaCH) SWaCH bridges the garbage gap between people’s
Cooperative, is India’s first wholly owned cooperative doors and the PMC collection points. It offers total
of self-employed waste pickers/waste collectors and solutions for wet garbage and dry garbage, while
other urban poor. It is an autonomous enterprise enabling the waste pickers and collectors to keep
that provides front-end waste management services their livelihoods and get trained to carry out their
to the citizens of Pune. SWaCH is authorised by work professionally and in an occupationally safer
the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to provide way. The integration of the waste pickers through
door-to-door waste collection and other allied waste SWaCH has helped to reduce waste disposal by more
management services. The scope of SWaCH includes than 20%. For the PMC, the cost of engaging with the
collection, resource recovery, trade and waste informal sector is much cheaper than engaging with
processing. Currently, through its 1,867 members, it private sector.
provides services to the population of over 1.5 million
people of Pune.
Advantages of integrating the informal The integration of informal stakeholders

sector increases the efficiency of the solid waste
The official solid waste management in management Integrative and decentralised
Egypt could not be managed without the full approaches offer advantages in economic,
engagement of the informal sector with its environmental and social terms and are thus
different components; waste pickers, scrap seen as being the most sustainable future
collectors, traders and recyclers. Although alternative in SWM in Egypt. The advantages
not officially recognised, they often form the of informal sector integration are explained
very basis of waste collection services, at no below:
cost to local authorities, central governments
or residents.
100. URL: (http://swachcoop.com/about-swachpune.html)

i) The environmental advantages: generation occurs through informal sector
The informal sector achieves high recovery integration.
rates (up to 80%) because the ability to
recycle is vital for the livelihoods of the Activities supporting informal sector
people involved. Consequently a huge variety integration include facilitating credit,
of recyclables is segregated and could be skills development and improvements in
further processed in accordance with new managerial know-how and marketing to
demands and technological advancements enhance the competitiveness of labour-
in the recycling industries. A drop in recovery intensive small-scale activities. Through
rates was witnessed in Egypt following these kinds of activities, formerly unskilled
private sector involvement in solid waste workers are educated, new jobs are created
collection, indicating the important role of and structural disparities are reduced.
informal sector involvement for efficient
recycling schemes. The informal sector also iii) Social advantages:
contributes to the reduction of greenhouse Even though the income and living conditions
gases and thus to the mitigation of climate of informal waste workers differ significantly
change. according to their main activities, the
majority of informal waste workers (dump
ii) The economic advantages: and street waste pickers) constitute the
Although informal sector activities very lowest level of society. Working conditions
often take place outside official and formal are unimaginable and include permanent
channels, unlicensed and untaxed, they exposure to dangerous, toxic and contagious
nevertheless contribute significantly to the substances. Waste pickers are often bitten
national economy. by dogs, subjected to harassment from
officials, exploited by traders and have no
Scrap collectors are entrepreneurs legal protection. They live in inhuman and
who add value merely by collecting and humiliating circumstances and generally lack
then transforming waste into tradable of sanitary services, health care and social
commodities. New enterprises are benefits. Child labour is the rule, not the
formed, trading networks evolve, capital exception, and life expectancy is low. Their
accumulation and investments take task is carried out in the most dehumanising
place and savings are made in terms of manner, with workers obliged to sort through
raw materials, transport and energy101. putrefying garbage to retrieve the scraps of
Furthermore, labour and employment paper and plastic that will earn them a living.
Box 17 Enabling conditions for integrating the waste informal sector103

Integrating the informal waste sector depends on The demand for integration has to be substantiated.
many factors. The four major enabling conditions
relevant for promoting the integration process are: 3. VALIDITY - Legal identity and formal recognition of
informal sector workers and their membership-
1. VOICE - The organisation of informal sector based organisations.
workers into membership-based bodies Integration has to be backed by political power.
accountable to their members and the
representation of these organisations in relevant 4. VIABILITY - The commercial viability of the
policymaking institutions. informal waste sector is the single most
Organisation is a precondition to integration. important reason informal waste enterprises
continue to flourish under existing competitive
2. VISIBILITY - Official recognition of the economic market conditions.
contribution of informal sector workers, resulting Economic autonomy supports Integration.
from improved labour force and other economic
statistics and from policy research.
101. “The Waste Experts: Enabling Conditions for Informal Sector Integration in Solid Waste Management -Lessons learned from Brazil, Egypt and India”, GTZ,
2008

5 Integrating informal sector workers has Recommendations for informal sector
the potential to significantly improve their integration in solid waste management103
living conditions. In a development approach i) Proper sector analysis: Taking all
that attempts to strengthen informal sector relevant actors and circumstances at
integration in solid waste management, the local, regional and national levels into
objectives being pursued are: consideration, is a vital prerequisite for
- To improve the working and income any strategy development. It will require
conditions of informal sector actors; concerted, committed and consistent
and effort on all possible fronts to successfully
- To give them the longest-term implement informal sector integration
perspective possible as waste into solid waste management.
management actors. This requires a ii) Promoting pilot projects and personal
minimum of official recognition and involvement: The implementation of
organisation of waste pickers. It does pilot projects paving the way for further
not mean however that the informal developments. Creating initial results,
sector has to be fully formalised. raising public attention, describing the
field of opportunities – such practical
Informal workers have limited general results at local level could be a powerful
busi¬ness knowledge, and are often socially inspiration to others. They could show
dis¬advantaged. For this reason, policy that change is possible and value could be
changes need to consider the specific created in many ways and could thus act
circumstances of the informal sector. as catalysts for further integration efforts.
Governorates could provide waste pickers iii) Documenting informal sector contribution
with identity cards and health insurance to solid waste management: Studies that
schemes; they could also support them quantify the contribution of the informal
in establishing cooperatives or Sees, and waste sector to reductions in municipal
provide them with training. waste handling costs, environmental
costs, poverty alleviation, downstream
Moreover, in the context of privatised employment generation and health costs
waste collection services, collaboration need to be undertaken to support the
between the infor¬mal sector and the formal demand for integration.
waste collection sector is possible. Waste iv) Creating public awareness: Public
pickers could partner with waste collection relations activity is important in improving
enterprises or vice ver¬sa. For those who public attitudes towards informal sector
are not engaged in recy¬cling, a partnership activities. In collaboration with the media,
with the informal sector would reduce the PR could highlight success stories and
volume of waste collected and would cut help to improve the reputation of waste
their transport costs. picker organisations.
A particular¬ly sensitive social issue in v) Encouraging municipalities to actively
connection with financing waste projects pursue local informal sector integration:
is the role of the waste pickers. It is critical Municipalities play a critical role in
for the lending in¬stitution to determine the integration process as they are
the extent to which the envisaged financing generally the official providers of waste
affects the income generating capacity of management services. The creation
the waste pickers, and which instruments of linkages between informal sector
are available to en¬hance their living and initiatives, municipal departments and
working conditions, and their income decision makers and the alignment
levels. One option is the establishment of a of their activities is therefore highly
close operating relation¬ship between the recommended.
formal and informal sec¬tor. Eventually, vi) Providing capacity building support
such cooperation might con¬tribute to a for waste picker organisations: In
progressive formalisation of the waste order to ‘compete’ in the solid waste
sector so that the waste pickers re¬ceive management sector waste pickers have
training, health protection, benefits, and fair to become consistent service providers.
compensation for their labour. Consulting in the field of capacity building
is of great importance in improving

the competitiveness of waste pickers’ Any policy-making process should be
organisations and guiding them through participatory and inclusive, integrating
the various challenges they will have to informal workers and their organisations
face during the formation process. into decision making and involving as
vii) Making informal sector integration a many different stakeholders as possible.
national policy: Official recognition and It should also allow for policies to be
acknowledgement of waste pickers, their developed through negotiation between
interests and their valuable contribution appropriate government departments and
to waste management services within relevant stakeholders, based on a shared
federal laws requires integration at understanding of the economic importance of
political and social levels. It demonstrates informal sector waste recycling
national political will, thus affecting
underlying habitual public attitudes and
promoting necessary cultural change
processes.
5.9 Multi-Stakeholders Involvement

SWM projects have recently relied on the SWM involves a wide range of stakeholders
participation of different stakeholders within from the political to the street level.
their communities for the sustainability Political decisions will heavily influence
and success of projects. The active the performance of MSWM, and levels
engagement of members of the community, of awareness and participation of other
underprivileged populations, women and stakeholder groups largely dictate the pace
youth, civil society, the private sector and city of progress at the street level.
councils representing local administration
not just as stakeholders, but as partners The stakeholders active in SWM are manifold
is instrumental to development and and include local authorities, provincial
successful implementation of projects. Their and national governments, formal private
participation at different project phases SWM companies (large-scale enterprises
develops a sense of ownership of the project. and registered small-scale enterprises),
business associations, compost and bio-gas
A multi-stakeholder approach enables facility operators, farmers, latrine emptying
several stakeholders to pool in their service providers, waste-pickers, informal
resources and get involved in projects/ waste collectors ‘zabaleen’ and buyers,
schemes in terms of perspectives, inputs, materials dealers, recyclers, service users
suggestions and participation102. It also (residents, commercial establishments,
provides a broader platform for discussion, etc.), NGOs, CBOs, religious institutions,
sharing and action plans. It is more likely universities, banks, etc. These stakeholders
that sustainability of the project is ensured usually have different interests (economic,
in such an approach, while at the same time political influence, social status, etc.) and
promoting social responsibility. According play different roles. Identification of the
to UNEP, complexity, costs and coordination stakeholders and their interests is important
of SWM has dictated multi-stakeholder in coordinating their participation and
involvement in every stage of the waste involvement in various waste management
stream103. activities104.
102. G. William (2009), “Multi Stakeholder approach towards Solid Waste Management”, Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA)
103. UNEP-IETC, “Waste Management – Activities, Global Partnership (http://www.unep.or.jp/ietc/SPC/activities/GPWM/background.asp)
104. Kurian Joseph (2006), “Stakeholder Participation for Sustainable Waste Management”, Habitat International 30, 863–871

5 Households form the largest category of effort to identify and analyse the SWM
stakeholders in solid waste management. To stakeholders, their alliances, relations,
support households in playing their expected interests, needs and potential roles and
roles, it is important to recognise that within responsibilities.
a neighbourhood community, households As a planning tool, Stakeholders’
might belong to a variety of social groups, Identification and Analysis is used to get a
and so might vary in their cultural beliefs and better picture so planners could concentrate
practices, major occupations, income and on strategies that will build on existing
expenditure patterns, access to community alliances and device mechanisms to deal
and infrastructure services, gender and age. with existing challenges.
The ISWM approach differs from conventional The planning process needs to be effectively
approaches towards SWM by seeking managed and balance the need for active
stakeholder participation, by including waste contribution of key stakeholders with their
prevention and resource recovery explicitly, limited time availability. This introduces a
by encouraging the analysis of interactions key role for `facilitators’ to help structure,
with other urban systems and by promoting guide and manage the process, maximise
an integration of different habitat scales contributions and work to secure consensus
(city, neighbourhood, household)105. The on key issues and strategic planning
best-functioning solid waste management proposals.
involve all the stakeholders in planning,
implementing and monitoring the changes6. Stakeholder identification and analysis are
critical first steps in a participatory planning
Cooperation and coordination between the process and constitute one area where
different stakeholder groups will ultimately a rigorous approach might be applied.
lead to increased sustainability of SWM, Stakeholder analysis is often undertaken
such as changes in behaviour and sharing late in a planning and management process,
of financial responsibilities. On the other in response to a crisis. However, early
hand, ignoring certain activities or groups (for identification and analysis exercises could
example the informal sector that recovers help prevent such crises. Within the context
and recycles a substantial amount of waste) of the specific management issues to be
will result in decreased sustainability of addressed, stakeholder identification and
the system, for example in the form of analysis provide a basic understanding of the
negative public health effects or increased social and institutional context in which the
unemployment. planning process will take place.
Participation of key stakeholders during A typical participatory planning process will

the strategic planning provides a major involve the following main steps106:
opportunity to link the strategic plan firmly to - Determine need for planning process;
reality and mobilise stakeholder involvement. - Stakeholder identification;
A structured series of participatory - Stakeholder mobilisation;
workshops provides a vehicle through which - Stakeholder analysis;
to develop consensus between stakeholders, - Definition of mechanism for
inspire contributions and secure broad- stakeholder participation and process
based ownership. to be used to arrive at decisions and
solutions;
Stakeholders and their alliances, - Identification of problems, issues, and
identification and analysis needs;
The MSWM seen in Egypt is complex, - Definition of goals and objectives;
fragmented and suffers lack of coordination - Collection of information on which to
and cooperation amongst the stakeholders. base decisions;
There is an urgent need for a dedicated - Analysis and sharing of results with
105. Arnold van de Klundert and Justine Anschiitz (2000), “The Sustainability of Alliance between Stakeholders in Waste Management”, Working paper for
UWEP/CWG
106. Tighe Geoghegan, Yves Renard, and Nicole A. Brown (2004), “Guidelines for Stakeholder Identification and Analysis: A Manual for Caribbean Natural
Resource Managers and Planners”, Caribbean Natural Resources Institute/UNEP/ United Kingdom Department for International Development

stakeholders; groups and institutions possess;
- Identification and assessment of - the people, organisations and
options; institutions who could influence,
- Negotiation; and contribute to, the planning and
- Formulation of decisions and management processes;
agreements; and - the past, current and potential
- Monitoring and evaluation. relationships within the ISWM system;
and
Stakeholder identification and analysis - the current and potential management
provide early and essential information conflicts.
about:
- the individuals, groups and institutions In all development processes, not just
that will be affected by and should in SWM interventions, there is a need to
benefit from the ISWM activities and understand the reality and the complexity of
interventions; interests and relations, evaluate and predict
- the capacities that these individuals, impacts, and assess human capacity.
5.10 Public Awareness and Community Participation

Well-designed public awareness campaigns
would lead to an increased and active public Public Awareness and Education (PA&E)
participation in facing the chronic SWM programmes don’t come free. A mix of low-,
problems. The general public is evidently medium and high-cost tools must be used
resentful of the impacts of poor management to achieve the highest possible impact at the
of SW and seems ready and willing to lowest cost.
assist in effective solutions providing
the seriousness of public authorities in The major Objectives of PA&E programmes
addressing, assisting and implementing for SWM are to:
viable management programs and projects. - Inform the public of new SWM methods
and requirements;
Most cities face urban environmental - Gain public support for MSWM initiatives;
problems and these are partly caused and
by inadequate provision of basic services - Improve the profile of MSWM.
including waste collection. Due to a lack of
financial, human and technical resources, To develop a successful PA&E strategy, the
municipalities are not able to provide basic most appropriate mix of tools for the city
services to all neighbourhoods within their must be combined. An overview of some
city. Especially the poor neighbourhoods are of the many tools available that could be
deprived of basic services. combined for this purpose, are distinguished
broadly by cost categories. Low cost tools
Stakeholder awareness of SWM and include: mass-education activities such
environmental issues and their preparedness as articles in newspapers, news releases,
to participate in the improvement of speeches, guest appearances of municipality
MSWM practices are closely linked107. personnel in radio programs and public
Public Awareness and Education (PA&E) service announcements; guest lecturers
programmes are needed because popular for schools, universities, clubs, interest
support for any issue could be greatly groups/ NGOs and public events; simple
increased if the public is informed about it internet site; poster contests and exhibitions;
adequately and comprehensively. To create workforce courtesy training; house to house
effective PA&E programmes, a variety of visits by (voluntary) awareness workers; and
tools with different costs must be combined neighbourhood committees for information
in order to achieve the highest possible and awareness building regarding public
impact at the lowest cost. health, environment and SWM.
107. ERM, “Facilitator Guide for MSWM, Step 4E, PUBLIC AWARENESS AND PARTICIPATION”, World Bank/SDC

5 Medium cost tools are: in-depth web page associated with improper SWM.
on MSWM issues and municipal activities
in the field; “waste telephone” information For SWM projects to have a continuing
service for households and local industry/ impact, community participation are a
business; information documents such as precondition and this entails involving the
newsletters, flyers, posters, fact sheets, community at different stages and degrees
briefing papers, press kits and school of intensity in the project cycle109. Community
resource packs; events such as press participation is essential throughout the
conferences, educational events, specific whole project, thus from project design
local workshops and public information and implementation to evaluation, ensures
evenings; community involvement projects the reflection of community priorities and
such as promotion of district cleansing days, needs in the activities of the project and
best-kept-street competitions and children/ motivates communities into maintaining and
youth group projects; audio-visual aids such operating project activities after the project is
as training videos for work force, information completed.
videos for the community and slide shows;
improve appearance of work force; and Strong community organisations might be
eco-award schemes for districts, companies, able to provide solid waste collection services
outstanding municipality workers and through self-help approaches, contracting
competitions in schools. with private enterprises, or establishing
collectives to perform the service. Such
High cost tools include: employing special direct participation of the community is
information and relations officer for the generally limited to activities associated
public and business community; bringing with primary collection of domestic refuse.
SWM issues into schools by introducing Examples of some of the most common roles
it to curricula as part of environmental that communities could undertake are110:
or hygiene/health education; developing - Managing waste within the household and
appropriate textbooks and training removing them from the premises;
programs for teachers and headmasters - Reducing waste production and
on SWM/environment/public health; and by facilitating recovery for the purpose of
advertisements and commercials. recycling;
- Keeping public areas around the
The MSWM departments should take the neighbourhood clean;
lead in developing community awareness, - Supporting and/or participating in public
but this function could be delegated to local projects intended to improve solid waste
NGOs through an appropriate agreement. management;
Surveys are a form of public information - Supplying “watchdogs” for the
dissemination and should be used as neighbourhood and the city at large;
an opportunity to raise the profile and - Providing input to solid waste facility
understanding of key MSWM issues. siting decisions;
- Participating in the preparation of
Communities should be motivated enough to strategic solid waste management plans;
solve their common problems themselves108. - Providing public education for raising
This enables them to become agents of awareness about issues and problems
their own development instead of positive of solid waste management, including
beneficiaries of development aid. The key health education, environmental health,
to the success of SWM system in any city is and attitudes towards wastes and waste
the cooperation of citizens. Citizens ought workers; and
to be involved in proper storage, collection - Sponsoring or participating in special
and safe disposal of waste. Community campaigns, competitions to raise the
should also be made aware of health risks profile of SWM.
108. Gurdeep Singh, Tauseef Zia Siddiqui and Anshul Jain, “Community Participation through Information, Education, Communication and Capacity Building of
ULB for Solid Waste Management, Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management, , Chennai, India, pp.504-507, 5 - 7
September 2007
109. A. Subash (2006), “Community Participation in Solid Waste Management”, Policy Workshop on Municipal Solid Waste Management, Anna University, India;
Sustainable Solid Waste Landfill in Asia
110. Janis Bernstein “Social Assessment and Public Participation in Solid Waste Management”, Urban Environment Thematic Group, WB” August , 2004

It is essential for the success of SWM ii) Representative local leaders and
projects to understand the requirement of community based organisations (CBOs)
community participation and support. In the could stimulate community participation
past there have been no major efforts to and ensure that community needs are
create public awareness for citizens, which taken into account;
is a vital component of SWM. The community iii) Women play a determining role in SWM
participation could be strengthening through and they form important channels of
multidisciplinary nature of Information, communication;
Education and Communication (IEC) for iv) Community initiatives and CBOs are less
the citizen’s one side and Capacity Building durable if they are not, at some point,
Programmes for the Urban Local Bodies recognised and supported by the local
(ULBs) officials and staff another side. authority;
v) Intermediary and consultation
Communication strategies, such as organisation to support CBOs in
awareness raising campaigns, are essential continuing their activities in SWM;
to generate a broad-based understanding of vi) Cooperation between the CBO and
SWM issues among community members. the local authority to maintain and
Appropriate time frame, achievable operate the service according to formal
objectives and adaptive planning might affect agreements with stakeholders;
community participation in a positive way. vii) Financial and operational viability to make
Factors favouring the sustainability of community services less dependent on
community participation and hence of SWM external support; and
are111: viii) Follow-up support after project
i) Communication strategies are essential implementation to reinforce awareness
to generate a broad-based understanding and new practices and assist when
of SWM issues among community required with operation and management
members on the one hand and of new organisations.
responsiveness of the stakeholders to the
demands of the community on the other;
5.11 Efficient Data / IT National System

The attempts to improve SWM practices in the ISWMS is essential. Data collection,
Egypt have suffered because of the paucity processing and continued analysis, providing
of reliable and standardised technical a national ‘depository’ of all literature,
data and the absence of a mechanism data, information, projects, and related
for disseminating data when available. efforts are crucial building blocks in an
An effective technical data system is efficient management system. Moreover,
clearly needed that would gather essential the database would contain information on
information about the SWM sector and SW facilities, operations, and disposal sites
develop it into meaningful data to assist throughout the nation.
planners, researchers and other decision
makers concerned with SWM. Meanwhile, the ISWMS should consider
building a national network to consolidate
The availability, completeness and upgrading information on SWM related policies,
of SWM information are necessary for programmes, documentation, contacts…etc
supporting the ISWM. The establishment in a reliable common environment accessible
of a national SWM Information system to SWM practitioners and stakeholders in
within the organisational structure of Egypt.
111. Laura Moningka, “Community Participation in Solid Waste Management: Factors Favouring the Sustainability of Community Participation, A Literature
Review”, WASTE, June 2000

5 The mission of the proposed network is The main stakeholders foreseen are:
to enhance the knowledge and skills of - Ministry of State for Environmental
SWM institutions and practitioners through Affairs;
dissemination of information and promotion - Institutions and administrations
of exchanges and partnerships among involved in SWM sector (Ministry of
SWM entities112. The network would provide Local Development, Ministry of Trade
a quick and easy access to a wide range and Industry, CAPMAS, Ministry of
of features that affects SWM, including Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Land
polices, institutional framework, action plans, Reclamation, Ministry of Communications
financial, technical and social aspects. and information Technology, Ministry of
Housing, Utilities and Urban Development
The network would also propose directions and Ministry of Finance, Governorates,
for futures research and for local Cleansing and Beatification Agencies,
implementation. The general aim of the academic and research institutes … etc.);
proposed network would be to develop - Private sector companies and
a variety of innovative, adaptable and representatives of the informal sector;
replicable approaches to a more efficient - Local NGOs working in SWM;
SWM, integrating appropriate low-cost and - Consultants and consultancy firms; and
efficient technologies with community-based - International development agencies.
management and their relevant governance,
institutional frameworks and socio-economic As there will be different stakeholders and
constraints. contributors interested in different SWM
fields (e.g. municipal waste, medical waste,
The objectives of the proposed network industrial hazardous wastes, e-waste …etc),
would be: focus groups would be created inside the
- To serve as a centre of expertise and network in order to cope with this situation
knowledge on ISWM; and to avoid sharing irrelevant information.
- To encourage awareness raising and
build national capacity for improved The planned future arrangement of the
ISWM; proposed network would include:
- To develop and disseminate new - Recruitment of capabilities in the
knowledge products; information, data management and
- To advise the Governmental agencies on analysis fields;
SWM issues and concerns; - Equipping the IT centre with advanced
- To prepare, share and maintain a hardware and software applications;
database of contacts, areas of expertise, - Creation of a Website serving the network
educational resources and any relevant purposes, activities and supporting the
information about institutions and members with all needed information and
practitioners involved in SWM; references;
- To spread case studies of best practices - Connections and communication
in order to accelerate the uptake of methods with members, information
waste-related infrastructure and services providers and other stakeholders;
at various stages of SWM, such as - Regular Meetings arrangements and
avoidance, prevention, minimisation, plans; and
segregation, collection, transport, - Adding discussion forums or blogs on
recycling, recovery, reuse, treatment and the Internet for members to post their
disposal; and thoughts or questions where others could
- To develop a set of indicators to assess give their input.
the network progress.
112. Tarek Zaki (2010) , “Report on the Roadmap/Action Plan for SWM Network in Egypt”, SWEEP-Net, unpublished work

5.12 Development of Pilot Projects
Setting workable development models is demonstrating the economic, environmental
a proven venue for advancing SWM. Pilot and social benefits as well as the applicability
Projects provide the opportunity to test public of ISWM approach in specific local situations
interest and willingness to participate in and in order to accomplish:
new ideas in SWM. Pilots are an ideal way - Demonstration of 3R principles through
to gather information, try out new methods ISWM in four cities that could serve as
and routines and find out what works and model for other cities in the region for
what doesn’t in particular regions, climates replication and adoption;
and populations. Pilot projects in collection, - Enhancement of capacity of local
treatment and recycling SW could create government authorities, businesses and
real interest and offer a positive impact civil society organisations in dealing with
on investors and financial institutions’ waste issues;
perceptions. - Achievement of resource augmentation
through the application of 3R principle;
Pilot projects are designed and implemented - Demonstration of Environmentally Sound
to serve multiple purposes, such as: Technologies (ESTs) for SWM; and
- To demonstrate the applicability of the - Improvement of the management of
approach in local conditions and instil waste in the target cities, thus improving
confidence in the local authorities; the environmental condition and reducing
- To demonstrate the economic, health hazard in the local communities.
environmental and social benefits of the
specific project and build commitment of The project initially comprised of three main
stakeholders; activities: development of guidelines and
- To provide hands-on work opportunity to training materials on ISWM; development
partner institutions and support capacity of ISWM Plan for three cities in China, India
building; and and Lesotho; and development of a Waste
- To become a model for other local Exchange Program within industries in
authorities to replicate it. Penang, Malaysia. However in the course
of the project, the activities were expanded
Testing approaches and feeding in pilot as lack of knowledge among stakeholders
experiences into national policy making in specific areas was identified. The
processes and legislation is a proven additional activities included: development of
strategy in development cooperation in manuals on Waste Electrical and Electronic
the SWM sector. In many cases, it needs Equipment (WEEE/ E-waste); regional
good practices to prove to decision makers training on ISWM in Africa and Asia-Pacific;
that an approach is viable. Successful and South-South Cooperation Workshop on
projects often work on several levels and WM, Law and Governance.
combine pilot projects on the local level
with accompanying the elaboration of public The activities undertaken under this project
policies and guidelines. This could facilitate have led to the following results:
the dissemination of new approaches on a i) The ISWM plans developed for the three
national scale. target project cities prove the applicability
of ISWM approach.
Examples of successful pilot projects that ii) The potential for application of 3R
could be a model for adaption are: approach has been also demonstrated.
iii) Environmental, Economic and Social
1. UNEP implemented a pilot project for benefits of ISWM approach have been
“Engaging Governments and Industry in demonstrated.
Demonstrating 3R Principles through 2. UN-Habitat and the United Nations
Integrated Waste Management”113. The Economic and Social Commission for
project was developed with the objective of Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) have
113. Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (2010), “Engaging Governments and Industry in Demonstrating 3R Principles through Integrated Waste
Management”, International Environmental Technology Centre, UNEP

5 launched a pilot project for SWM in four replace the common practice of handling
cities in Pakistan114. The pilot project has infectious wastes-including used syringes
been initiated through the establishment and bloodstained gauze-together with
of Integrated Resource Recovery Centres general wastes. After witnessing the results
(IRRC), a Decentralised community- of the pilot project, an initiative was taken
based recycling and composting to replicate the system in other medical
facility. The IRRCs have been built and facilities.
operated at low costs by using limited
mechanical technology, ensuring 4. Pilot projects and studies have shown
low operational costs with minimal that informal waste sector co-operatives
equipment breakdowns, while creating have particular difficulties in assuring
job opportunities. The project aims to successful financial management, even
develop an efficient waste collection and after training, without external support116.
transfer system that will be associated Integration measures must thus be
with the IRRC. Thorough developing a prepared to accompany informal worker
proper SWM, UN-Habitat aims towards co-operatives over the longer term in
waste minimisation, recycle and reuse of order to ensure sustainable management.
waste materials and income generation
resulting in environmental protection. At the same time, it must be pointed
out to co-operatives that they have to
3. In Santo Domingo, the capital of the establish a viable business model and that
Dominicould Republic, the waste is external support is only provided for the
collected by both the local authority start-up phase. The example of Recicla in
and commissioned private operators, Mozambique has shown that despite the
but the absence of a waste collection initial elaboration of a feasibility study, the
plan often results in waste left on curb group counted too much on external support
sides for several days, which spoils the for a while and did not manage to cover all
city landscape. Santo Domingo and its its costs. Only after a process of intense
neighbouring cities rely on a final disposal discussion and advice about the future
site in the north of Santo Domingo, evolution of the co-operative, the members
although the site is not operated under started to share the vision of Recicla as a
sanitary conditions. JICA carried out financially viable business.
a study to formulate a master plan
with a target year of 2015 to solve the Egypt-Specific Pilot Projects Potential
aforementioned issues and to strengthen Reviewing the international experience, and
the waste management capacity of Santo considering the current SWM seen in Egypt,
Domingo city hall115. two efforts might offer good potential for
sustainability, replicability and stakeholders’
During the course of the study, several engagement:
pilot projects were undertaken to ensure i) A pilot ISWM project utilising the PPP
the practicality of the master plan and to route where Government (e.g. Ministry
demonstrate technical know-how of waste of Finance) and a major private SWM
management. One of the pilot projects aimed company (or consortium) are executing a
to improve waste collection. In a target area joint SWM facility / activity (e.g. waste-to-
with about 160,000 residents, a new, rational energy); and
waste collection system was established and ii) A pilot Private / Informal sector ISWM
achieved substantial results, such as a 15% project where a private SWM company
increase in the hourly collection amount. establishes a WM facility (collection,
In another pilot project, using a medical transportation, composting, recycling,
complex as the model site, the introduction etc) with full engagement of the informal
of a system to properly separate, collect sector as per contributions and profit
and treat hospital waste was facilitated to sharing.
114. UN-Habitat (2012), “UN-Habitat and UNESCAP Join Hands in Solid Waste Management Project”, URL: http://www.unhabitat.org/content.
asp?cid=11410&catid=5&typeid=6&AllContent=1
115. Kokusai Kogyo Group, International Cooperation – Helping Developing Countries Advance, “The Study for Integrated Management of Urban Solid Waste in
Santo Domingo / Project for Appropriate Waste Management in Santo Domingo de Guzman”, July 2005–September 2011
116. Ellen Gunsilius, Sandra Spies and Sofía García-Cortés (2011), “Recovering Resources, Creating Opportunities: Integrating the Informal Sector into Solid
Waste Management”, GIZ

5.13 Decentralized Solid Waste Management
MSWM constitutes a serious problem in iii) Capital-intensive approaches: involving
Egypt. Most Governorates lack the resources advanced technology and equipment,
to meet the demand for services such as frequently imported from industrialised
water, sanitation, and SWM. The insufficiency countries
of services results in a deterioration of the iv) Formal: conventional solutions only
urban environment. Generally, Governorates consider the formal sector, neglecting
do not collect the totality of wastes generated the existence and possible contributions
and of the wastes collected; only a small of the informal sector that has developed
fraction receives proper treatment and/ around waste collection and recycling in
or disposal. The insufficient collection and many cities.
inappropriate treatment and disposal of
SW pose risks to human health and the Many local governments devote a substantial
environment. Over the next several years, portion of their annual budgets to collecting,
the rapid urbanisation will tend to further transporting and disposing of solid wastes.
deteriorate this situation. The traditional approach to solid waste
management focuses on end-of-line
Increasing resources are spent attempting solutions that are capital- and technology-
to improve MSWM. Conventional intensive, and therefore costly.
approaches usually involve solutions that
are centralised, bureaucratic, and ignore Alternative and more suitable ways of
the potential contribution of the informal tackling these issues could be found by
sector, with little public participation in the looking at the life cycle of the waste and
decision process, and often use imported reducing it at as many stages as possible.
technology. Conventional approaches often Normally, MSW undergoes three stages in
fail and a different approach is needed. A its life, generation, collection and disposal.
“Decentralised Model” for MSWM might The life cycle approach requires minimising
be more appropriate to the conditions waste by reducing, reusing and recycling
prevalent in several Governorates. In the solid waste at all stages in the life cycle.
proposed model, the specific needs of Thus, practices such as banning the use of
low-income areas would be considered; it plastic bags, working with manufacturers
would promote community participation and and retailers to reduce packaging material,
incorporate informal zabaleen and waste and using recyclable materials or home-
pickers into public-private partnerships, based composting, minimises waste at the
microenterprises, or cooperatives. The waste generation stage. Sorting waste at
proposed approach could help solve the source and recycling, and extracting and
problems of SWM in a socially desirable, using methane from landfills, reduces
economically viable, and environmentally waste at the collection and disposal stage.
sound manner. Employing all these strategies significantly
reduces the amount of waste that reaches
The conventional solutions that are landfills, extending the duration of their use
commonly adapted to MSWM problems often and reducing collection and disposal costs.
have the following features117:
i) Centralised and undiversified: solutions The informal sector recycling system
that do not distinguish the different needs often comprises several categories of
and heterogeneity of neighbourhoods zabaleen and waste pickers, who collect
within each city, and between cities in the recyclable wastes from households, refuse
Governorates collection bins, street-side and dumpsites.
ii) Bureaucratic: top-down solutions, usually It also comprises middlemen who buy the
reached without or with little community recyclable waste and sort, clean and sell it
participation to small-scale enterprises that recycle the
117. Martin Medina “Human Settlement Development - Vol. III - Municipal Solid Waste Management in Third World Cities: Lessons Learned and a Proposal for
Improvement”, Encyclopaedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) and UNESCO

5 waste. By the time waste reaches dumpsites, A new approach that treats the organic
its “recyclability” is nearly diminished. fraction in solid wastes as a resource, “trash
to cash”, is needed. From the perspective of
Since the generated MSW contains about local governments and informal sector, such
60% organic, even with 100 per cent recycling an approach should118:
of the other constituents, the bulk of the i) Reduce transport costs;
disposal problem remains. This means that ii) Improve collection services; and
savings in terms of transport costs would be iii) Provide waste pickers with higher and
minimal as organic waste would still need regular income and better working
to be collected with the same frequency. conditions.
Moreover, as the prices of recyclable
materials fluctuate considerably, the Most of these criteria could be met by
increase in average income among zabaleen decentralised community-based SWM
and waste pickers would also be marginal. projects. Several local governments, non-
Thus, recycling is part of the solution, not the governmental organisations and research
whole solution. and training institutes have undertaken such
projects with varying degrees of success.
Box 18 Key points for successful community based solid waste management121
• The successful implementation of community- • Progress needs to be measured using simple and
based SWM and composting programmes easy-to-measure indicators.
city-wide requires building partnership among • Cost-effective implementation is a key in
all stakeholders-national, state, and local promoting community-based activities city-wide.
governments, communities, the local private • Capacity-building is necessary and efforts might
sector, and development partners, with local include work with local government, the local
government positioned at the centre to manage private sector, and resource agencies.
implementation. • The programme should mobilise both private
• A strong supportive enabling environment needs investments by households and private sector
to be developed and maintained at national and as well as public investments by government
local government levels. for the majority of funds required for project
• Establishing a shared vision and strategy among implementation, capacity building and program
stakeholders and securing the political will to management.
implement them are essential.
Recognising the need for concerted actions capacity utilisation continuity in operation and
to effectively deal with the SWM problem, the maintenance119.
ISWMS has to initiate a program aimed at Decentralised community-based waste
improving SWM, by adapting a “Decentralised management systems have an important
system” and community participation role to play in the Governorates. Such
functioning with roles and responsibilities, systems will encourage and support local
clearly identified to each stakeholder. The communities to take responsibility for wastes
main drive of the plan is to involve citizen in their areas, and involve them in reusing,
and community organisations in SWM. recycling and economic processing of the
Community groups would be involved wastes locally. This will substantially reduce
in various activities including collection, the amount of waste going to the dumps.
segregation, processing, dissemination of The advantages of such community-based
information and awareness building. Units systems will include:
would be set up to process the organic waste - Better health and sanitation for local
locally generated into compost. All issues communities;
relating to this have to be tied up to ensure - Conservation and optimum use of
118. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, Committee on Poverty Reduction (2006), “Community-Based Solid Waste Management”, United
Nations Economic and Social Council
119. D.G.J. Premakumara (2012), “Best Practices and Innovations in Community-Based Solid Waste Management in Cebu”, the Japan Fund for Global
Environment

materials by recycling and reuse of transport and processing, and more local
wastes that might promote sustainable employment, particularly for economically
use of materials. backward groups such as waste pickers
- Conversion of wastes into compost will to and especially poor women. Local-level
some extent reduce the use of chemical waste management could also be linked
fertilisers, a major contributor to global with the Government’s various poverty
warming. Surplus compost produced by reduction and welfare measures for poor
urban communities could be sold to peri- women;
urban and rural communities for farming, - It will substantially reduce the overall cost
again, cutting down fertiliser use; of WM; and
- Decentralised waste management - The system will create awareness among
will substantially reduce the need for communities about problems related to
transporting wastes over large distances, the environment, global warming, climate
saving fuel and reducing vehicular change, sustainability, etc which could
emissions; push them into greater involvement in the
- Reduction in the wastes brought to the management of such issues at local, city
dumps will reduce GHG emissions from and national levels.
the dumps.
- Handling and processing wastes at local Annex 7 provides examples of management
levels will mean greater participation models for decentralised SWM projects
of local communities, greater efficiency (small, medium and large scale
in collection and segregation, cleaner decentralised composting)120
neighbourhoods, lower costs on
5.14 International Development Agencies Support

Donor agencies activities are diversified with Sometimes, projects are initiated with
varied orientation. International agencies specific aims and expected outputs, but
could play a major role in supporting the their scopes are not comprehensive enough
development of SWM projects through to consider external factors influencing
innovative funding and technical cooperation. them. The external support agencies often
The need for coordination is evident and that do not fully understand socio-economic,
could be another role for the ISWMS. cultural, and political factors influencing the
selection of appropriate SWM systems. In
In the last 20 years, a number of SWM other cases, very limited follow-up support,
projects have been carried out in developing including human resource development
countries, in collaboration with external activities necessary to sustain the project
support agencies. Some projects were implementation, is provided by the external
successful in producing lasting impacts support agencies.
on the improvement of SWM in developing
countries. However, many projects could not These problems and constraints associated
support themselves or expand further when with external support agencies’ collaboration
the external agencies discontinued their with developing countries in SWM could be
support. A number of technical, financial, minimised, and the sustainability of such
institutional, economic, and social factors collaborative projects improved by packaging
contribute to the failure to sustain the efforts of external support agencies;
projects, and they vary from project to project defining clear roles of relevant agencies and
improving their coordination in developing
The external support agencies have countries; creating key human resources;
limitations in the amount of resources they supporting strategic planning and follow-up
could provide and the mandates and modes implementations; developing self-financing
under which they could operate projects. schemes; and raising awareness of the
120. Iftekhar Enayetullah, Silke Rothenberger, A. H. Md. Maqsood Sinha and Chris Zurbrügg (2006), “Decentralised Composting for Cities of Low- and Middle-
Income Countries: A Users’ Manual”, Waste Concern and Eawag / Sandec.

5 public and decision makers121. cultures that are all required to achieve
objectives set by the organisations involved
An important role for international in SWM. Government institution staff should
development agencies is the building of have the necessary skills and managerial
capacities within the SWM sector through and planning ability. Also required physical
designing, development and implementation assets including the facilities, equipment,
of capacity development (CD) initiatives. land, funds and capital necessary for such
The primary objectives for development SWM components as waste collection,
assistance in this sector should be based on transportation, intermediate treatment and
the idea of supporting Egypt in enhancing final disposal.. Moreover, physical assets
the SWM capacity of the entire society and in also require intellectual capacity for their
building sustainable SWM systems. application, including expertise in SWM
technologies and systems, and statistical
The UNDP defines CD as the process by information, including waste flow data,
which individuals, organisations, institutions, literature, manuals, and research data.
and societies develop “abilities” (individually
and collectively) to perform functions, SWM capacities at the institutional/societal
solve problems, and set and achieve level represent the environment, conditions,
objectives122. This is a widely used concept, mechanisms, policies, institutions, regimes,
although the definition of CD varies slightly and norms that are required both to enable
from donor to donor. Within the general capacities to be demonstrated at the
CD framework, there are three layers- individual and organisational levels and to
individual, organisational, and institutional ensure that sustainable SWM systems work.
or societal levels. These layers are not SWM calls for a relevant legal framework,
mutually exclusive, but rather each level is that is, legislation that defines wastes
interconnected in a systemic way. and determines where the responsibility
for waste management lies. Based on
SWM capacities at the individual level such legislation, regulations should be
represent the knowledge and skills of established regarding standards on the
individuals who are engaged in SWM, collection, treatment and disposal of wastes
including not only the government and the management of environmental
institutions in charge of SWM, but also those loads, standards for waste generation, and
in CBOs, NGOs and the private and informal wider environmental standards. These
sectors123. Individuals engaged in actual regulations should be accompanied by legal
SWM services often have low social status enforcement, including the authority to
and inadequate education. Improving their provide guidance and to punish offenders.
capacities or their knowledge and skills, in SWM also calls for wider environmental
addition to providing them with opportunities and urban management policies, specific
for public health education in relation to their political objectives and leadership to achieve
working environment is needed. Technical these objectives. The society’s economic
cooperation of international development system, including its economic scale or level
agencies in technology transfer activities, of economic development, is an important
training and hands-on practice should prerequisite both for capacities at the level of
be designed to improve the capacities of the legal framework, standards and policies
individuals. and capacities for the establishment of an
actual SWM..
SWM capacities at the organisational In addition to frameworks, policies and
level represent the physical, human and the economy, SWM capacities at the
intellectual assets, leadership, organisational institutional/societal level might include
management frameworks and organisational informal institutions such as customs and
121. Hisashi Ogawa (1996), “Sustainable Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries”, 7th ISWA International Congress and Exhibition, Parallel Session 7,
“International Perspective”
122. Management Development and Governance Division (1997), “Capacity Development”, Technical Advisory Paper 2, UNDP
123. Institute for International Cooperation (2005), “Supporting Capacity Development in Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries, Towards Improving
Solid Waste Management Capacity of Entire Society”, International Cooperation Agency (JIKA), Japan

norms concerning waste. Among social organisational mandates and operational
organisations involved in SWM are sweeper modes of the external support agency,
castes and social classes, CBOs, NGOs and and therefore they could not be easily
other types of associations at the community changed.
level, and formal and informal recycling
markets and industries. What could be changed, however, is to unite
Other capacities identified in the wider support from different international aid
context of the entire social system agencies to make a collaborative project
concerning SWM include: environmental/ more comprehensive and long-term/
waste education in schools and social continuous. This requires better coordination
education; systems (good governance) or and communication among the external
partnerships to ensure that the opinions support agencies and development of
of local residents are taken into account; partnership among them, removing the
and ownership by the society as a whole in organisational egos and sharing and
relation to SWM, especially public consensus, contributing their resources to the benefits of
sentiment or willingness to work together to the recipient country.
provide rational SWM services.
This integrated approach should comprise ii) Defining Clear Roles of Relevant Agencies in
technical, environmental, legal, socio- Developing Countries: better coordination
economic and financial aspects, involving for effective implementation of a solid
the key actors at different levels to ensure waste management collaborative project
an effective implementation. It is essential to is also required by the various agencies
promote international cooperation with local involved in solid waste management in
research organisations, universities, and the recipient country. A working group
social and governmental stakeholders. involving officials from the various
agencies could be set up to discuss
The ISWMS focus would be directed to the initially the roles and responsibilities of
reform of the SWM sector by encouraging their respective agencies, and the working
the development of national and regional WM group could be later upgraded to an
infrastructure, support innovative funding administrative committee or task force.
measures, and sharing best practices
across the country, in order to support iii) Developing Human Resources: for
environmentally sound and sustainable SWM. sustainable solid waste management in
Moreover, the ISWMS has to adapt a strategy developing countries, human resource
that provides a mechanism for coordination development should always be part of the
of the future activities of international external support package.
development agencies, ensuring the
integration of any efforts to get the maximum iv) Developing Self-financing Schemes:
possible benefit from this resource. With governments of developing countries
the support of bilateral and multilateral have limited funds for SWM and must
partnerships, the goal is to establish a develop measures to reduce and recover
national successful ISWM system. the expenditure and increase revenues
where possible. They need to turn their
Key to successful collaboration125 SWM systems to more self-financing
i) Packaging external support: A number programmes. External support could
of external support agencies recognize be effectively used to develop different
SWM as a priority issue in developing alternative cost-cutting, cost-recovering,
countries and are interested in supporting and revenue-raising schemes (e.g., waste
to improve the situation. However, their minimisation, deposit-refund system
approaches to solving SWM problems in for recyclable materials, import or
developing countries have been piece- sales tax on certain packaged products,
meal and not well coordinated. Also, their collection of user service charges, etc.)
support has been provided mostly on a and implement pilot studies on these
short-term basis. These characteristics economic incentive measures.
of external support are inherent in the

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MSEA

ANNUAL REPORT FOR

With Support of:

National Solid Waste Management Programme (NSWMP)

Designed and Printed by:

6 01 Introduction — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013

Box 1 Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM)6

01 Introduction — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013 7

Public Health Development

8 01 Introduction — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013

01 Introduction — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013 9

1.3 Demographic and Socio-Economic Indicators

9. Egypt State Information Center, http://www.sis.gov.eg/en/story.aspx?sid=6

10 01 Introduction — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013

Open burning and reliance on open

Egypt is undergoing increasing population,

01 Introduction — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013 11

Waste Type Generated Quantity

Waterway cleansing waste, %3

Municipal solid waste, %14

Construction and demolition waste, %44

Figure 4 Generated solid

12 01 Introduction — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013

Waste Type Generated Quantity (Million Tonnes)

2001 17 2006 18 2012 19

17. EEAA (2001), “Solid Waste System in Egypt”

01 Introduction — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013 13

Figure 5 Generated solid

14 01 Introduction — SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN EGYPT, 2013

2.1 Municipal Solid Waste Management

2.1.1 Waste generation and masonry. In some Governorates this might

It should be noted that the available data for MSW generation

Paper / Cardbord 10%

Figure 6 Municipal solid Figure 7 Municipal solid

Governorate Waste Collection Governorate Waste Collection

On the other hand, the introduction

i) Allowing a mix of approaches and

Table 5 MSW Ismailia 350,000 South Sinai 512,000

The municipality could support MSE and CBO waste

No. Location Allocated Area (Feddan)

Table 7 A&B provides data on the composting

Above: Photo 5 Self ignition of waste at an uncontrolled

No. of Plants/ Efficiency (%) Uncontrolled Controlled Landfill

Governorate Composting Plants19 No. of Final Disposal Sites19

No. of Plants/ Efficiency (%) Uncontrolled Controlled Landfill

Table 7B Composting facilities and

Box 3 establishing an organisation for the implementation and consolidation of

Photo 7 The Compost plant in Beila, Kafr El-Sheikh

Photo 8 RDF production line

In Egypt, due to absence of source promoting the interests of informal workers.

Pursued Target 5 years target 10 years target Current % of Gap: 10 Yr Target

1) Min. Collection Coverage [Collection Efficiency]

- Large cities 90% 99% 75% 24%

- Capital of 80% 90% 65% 25%

- Small provincial 70% 80% 50% 30%

- Large villages 60% 70% 30 - 40% 35%

2) Sanitary landfill disposal [% Landfill vs. total disposed]

80% 90% 5% 85%