The Egyptian National Solid Waste Management Programme investment
component, funded by the European Union (EU), was reently launched. The EU
support will address some of the pressing issues in the sector by supporting
concrete actions, investing a total of 20 million Euros as a grant out of the total
project budget amounting to 61 million Euros. The other 41 million Euros will be
provided by the KFW, German Technical Cooperation (GIZ) and Swiss
Cooperation and the Government of Egypt.
During the opening ceremony of, Reinhold Brender Chargé d'Affaires a.i. of the
EU Delegation to Egypt, stressed that future of waste management lies in circular
economy, where almost nothing is wasted. Re-use and remanufacturing is standard
practice, and sustainability is built into the fabric of that society, where there is less
waste to deal with, and more is generated from limited resources. He added that the
EU is glad to support Egypt for its improved solid waste management as key step
in direction towards circular economy.
The ‘National Solid Waste Management Programme’, contains a comprehensive
set of measures ranging from institutional reform and development of policy and
legislation, to investment programming and implementation, professional capacity
development, improving services and facilities in four pilot governorates of Kafr
al-Sheikh, Gharbiya, Assiut and Qena.
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The action aims to provide a significant contribution to the sustainable protection
of the environment, to protect natural resources and to reduce health risks for the
population of Egypt. The envisaged actions include construction and rehabilitation
of solid waste management facilities such as recycling, composting plants, transfer
stations, landfills, other solid waste infrastructure required for an integrated waste
management system. The programme will also support the closure and
rehabilitation of existing uncontrolled dumpsites.
Watani International
22 January 2017