The Recycling Problem in Egypt

Egypt is one of the most populated countries in Africa, that causes a lot of garbage that Egyptian government can not recycle It. Garbage in Egypt is a problem that seems to be unsolvable. The former government tried to solve it by recruiting foreign companies but it did not work. Now the revolution has aggravated the problem to such an extent that mountains of garbage can be found everywhere. The garbage scene is becoming more and more visible as trash is thrown everywhere in streets, because no laws are being enforced in the post-revolution period. In Cairo, garbage mountains are found at the end of each street. While authorities claim that residents do not thrown rubbish in storage bins, residents accuse authorities and garbage companies of not doing their jobs correctly In Alexandria though, residents have done something exceptional, they put garbage at the top of the governor’s car forcing him to remove it by hand. The government can solve this problem by recycling this garbage. Recycling companies in Egypt is not available in many cities, and this companies do not recycle the garbage with the right way.

E-Waste problem in Egypt

The e-waste generation of the country is therefore one of the highest of the continent. In addition, some e-waste is also imported, partly illegally. Although the amount of e-waste in the country is high, the number of formal e-waste recyclers is low and these recyclers operate on a small scale. There is no formal collection system of e-waste, no specific regulation or financing mechanism, and the involvement of the producers is low compared to Europe. Most of the e-waste is therefore collected and treated through informal channels, with poor health and safety conditions, and high environmental impact. However, the Green ICT initiative has created some momentum and various initiatives to improve to e-waste recycling have emerged that should be capitalized on. Also, the “Needs assessment of the e-waste sector in Egypt” has revealed the necessity to support small and medium sized enterprises (SME) development by providing financial, administrative legal and technical support through a “youth incubator program”.

Strategies aiming to improve the e-waste treatment in Egypt should therefore help formalizing recycling activities, with focus on building technology partnerships, implementing standards and improving conformity, developing a system for financing sound recycling, and training for the main stakeholders.

The effects of recycling problem in Egypt

1. Pollution in the environment, because of the accumulated garbage.
2. Low health level, because of the pollution.
3. Huge economic loses, because of the unused materials from garbage.

Building materials made entirely from waste products as a solution

Blood Brick

This idea rests on the assumption that animal blood counts as a waste product. People are wasting loads of animal blood, especially in societies withoutIndustrialized food production systems. And, as it turns out, blood is one of the strongest bio-adhesive out there, as it contains high levels of protein. British student proposes using freeze blood which comes as a powder, mixed with sand to form a paste; this can then be cast as blocks.

Newspaper Wood

This design comes from Norway, where over 1m tones of paper and cardboard are recycled every year. The wood is created by rolling up paper and solvent-free glue to create something not dissimilar to a log, then chopping it into usable planks. The wood can then be sealed so it's waterproof and flame-retardant, and used to build anything you would normally build with wood.

Bottle bricks

This proposal is a little different, as it relies on producing a consumer good specifically so it can later be used as a building material. Lots of companies now make bottles in cuboid or other tesselative shapes, to make them easier to transport. But the practice of doing so to create construction materials actually started with beer company Heineken in the 1960s – Alfred Henry Heineken, owner of the brewery, visited a Caribbean island and was dismayed at both lack of shelter, and the number of discarded Heineken bottles scattered everywhere. So, the company landed on a new, brick-shaped design for the bottle, shown in the images above. The bottleneck slots into the base of the next bottle, forming an interlocking line.

Mushroom walls

Here, designers figured out a way to grow wall insulator and packing materials using mycelium, a bacteria found in rotting organisms like tree trunks and agricultural byproducts. If placed in a mold, these organic matters grow to the desired shape within a couple of days, and can then be stopped using a hot oven. This is particularly useful because traditional insulating and packing materials tend to be non-biodegradable, or, in the case of asbestos, poisonous.

Serbian house has made of plastic bottlesA Serbian maths professor has celebrated his retirement by moving into a house he built himself entirely out of plastic bottles. It took five years and 13, 500 bottles for Tomislav Radovanovic, from the central town of Kragujevac, to build the 60sq metre house. He told the national news agency Tanjug that he hopes to enter the Guinness Book of Records and has already sent them an application.

Only the foundation of the property is concrete, and all other parts of the house are made of plastic bottles that he had been collecting for years. Even the kitchen furniture and windows are made of plastic bottles.