Swiss packaging major SIG has teamed up with Vancouver-headquartered for-profit social enterprise Plastic Bank and an experienced partner in development cooperation, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, to unveil a project set to reshape Egypt’s recycling landscape while increasing security for waste collection members.
Egypt generates over 95 million tonnes of waste annually. With no formalized system of waste collection and recycling, only 60% of this waste is collected currently, with less than 20% of that being properly disposed of or recycled. The partnership between SIG, GIZ Egypt, and Plastic Bank aims to address this pressing issue and achieve positive change. In a three-year initiative, the partners are on a mission to collect 700 metric tonnes of beverage cartons, while also aiming to improve the livelihood for around 1,000 local waste collection members via blockchain.
The PlasticBank app, backed by the Canadian social recycling enterprise’s proprietary blockchain-secured platform, provides traceability and transparency in waste collection, empowering waste collectors to convert every piece of discarded material into a source of revenue. Waste collection members will be able to log each collected product via the app to earn incentives deposited directly into their digital wallets and gain access to social benefits, including health, work and life insurance, digital connectivity, grocery vouchers, school supplies, and more. Furthermore, the waste collection members will undergo training and receive personal safety equipment for their well-being at work.
By streamlining and tracking the collection and recycling of waste, including used beverage cartons, this project also takes a broader role for laying the groundwork for an extended producer responsibility (EPR) model in Egypt. It aligns closely with Egypt’s Waste Management Regulatory Authority (WMRA) to weave recycling into the legislative framework and underscores the important role of packaging manufacturers in environmental stewardship.
Abdelghany Eladib, President & General Manager – India, Middle East and Africa at SIG, elaborates, “Our new partnership goes one step further in accelerating our progress towards a circular economy. Extending social waste collection and recycling programmes like this one in Egypt will help to achieve our goals and is a blueprint for future programmes. By establishing a recycling system for beverage cartons in the Greater Cairo area and beyond, SIG is focused on reducing the environmental impact and creating a market for recycled paper.”
The project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) funding programme ‘develoPPP’ and its special initiative “Decent Work for a Just Transition”.
