Egypt's growing waste challenge
Egypt is the Middle East's most populous country, with nearly 105 million people in 2021. It generates around 26 million tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) each year, and that volume is expected to grow by 3.4% annually as the population and consumption patterns change.
Collection systems capture less than 25% of rural waste and between 30-85% of urban waste. Cairo's collection rate is around 65%. Waste that is not collected accumulates around residential and commercial areas or is discarded in rivers and canals, attracting vectors, creating odours and reducing local quality of life.
Emissions from unofficial disposal
In developing and lower-middle-income countries, waste often contains more than 50% degradable material. Together with rising MSW volumes and unscientific or unofficial disposal, this organic fraction contributes significantly to urban greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions.
Approximately 99% of landfill emissions consist of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). The remaining 1% may include hydrogen sulfide (H2S), non-methane organic compounds (NMOCs), inorganics and, occasionally, metals. Methane has approximately 30 times the impact of carbon dioxide, making it the main focus of landfill-emission control.
Waste accounts for 3.2% of global emissions: wastewater contributes 1.3% and landfills 1.9%. Waste-to-Energy (WTE) is presented as a hygienic treatment method that reduces waste volume by about 90%. Of the remaining 10%, part can be used in cement or asphalt applications and the other half can be disposed of safely in a secured landfill site.
Global Waste Initiative: 50 by 2050
The Global Waste Initiative aims to treat and recycle at least 50% of Africa's waste by 2050. Meeting that target would raise the global waste-treatment rate by +10% and reduce the impact of waste pollution on human health, biodiversity, food systems and resource scarcity.
Green Tech Egypt and Renergy Group Partners intend to support this initiative by increasing the amount of waste treated in Egypt and Africa. In a WTE facility, combusted waste does not produce the methane it would generate in landfill; metals are recovered for recycling; and electricity offsets greenhouse gases that would otherwise come from coal- and natural-gas plants. GTE / Renergy Group Partners are developing three WTE facilities with a patented flue-gas-treatment unit intended to minimise air emissions.
Advantages presented for Waste-to-Energy
- Recovery of energy and materials
- Avoidance of methane emissions
- Reduction of odour nuisance
- More than 90% reduction in volume
- Protection of desert and seashore ecosystems
- A cleaner environment that supports health protection and increases the region's appeal to tourists
- New, highly skilled engineering jobs
- Up-to-date technology brought to Egypt