Egypt aims to increase its recycling to 60 percent by 2027, adding capacity to the waste management with newer plants and inviting more private investment and an overhaul of the circular economy.

Egypt has established a high target of achieving 60 percent of municipal solid waste recycling in 2027 versus 37 percent in 2024 and 10 percent only in 2018. The project is the keystone to the circular economy plan of the country aimed at organic fertilizer manufacturing and cleans energy services.

The Waste Management Law (No. 202/2020) has facilitated the entry of the private sector, which has so far increased to 36 contracts out of the total 36 contracts in waste collection, treatment, and recycling in the year 2018. The major among the projects are waste-to-energy plants set on Al-Salam and Hammam landfills as well as the Abu Rawash wastewater treatment plant, as it handles 1.6 million cubic meters on a daily basis.

The biggest leap so far is the Zero Carbon Green Planet plant, due to be opened in Cairo in 2027, which will process organic waste throughput at 400 tonnes a day to produce graphene, hydrogen and fertilizer, with plans to scale this technology up to a total of 10,000 tonnes a day. There is a high-capacity recycling plant being constructed in Assiut by German-Dutch technology.

Such recycling and waste management projects are intended to generate hundreds of jobs, beef up infrastructure, and regularize the position of informal employees such as the Zabbaleen of Cairo. The new EPR policy of producers is also likely to support government efforts to realign the Egyptian practices in recycling and waste management with the global environment standards.