Sawiris Foundation Website

Experience has demonstrated that garbage recycling projects can create jobs, encourage start-up of small industries, while generating a cleaner, healthier environment. El Nahda is one of the new cities on the outskirts of Cairo to which victims of the 1992 earthquake were transferred. A plastic recycling plant would contribute to an efficient solid waste management system, reduce unemployment and provide the market with affordable recycled consumer products.

The project aims at establishing a plastic recycling station in El Nahda in addition to train and employ 60 technical and managerial staff to work in sorting and recycling activities using machinery to transform plastic into marketable products. The project covers the operating costs of the recycling stations until it reaches financial sustainability and operates from its own revenue.

Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS) was founded in 1912. It is a national non-profit organization recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva. It is also a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. ERCS has many activities in the field of disaster relief, health and social development including youth care; nurseries; female empowerment; reproductive health care. ERCS provides the necessary land and supervises the construction work for the project in addition to selecting the youth who will work in the recycling station. ERCS will manage the project after gaining the necessary know how for the running of the station.

Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE) (Refer to Solid Waste Management in Fayoum Governorate). APE provides the necessary machinery for the plastic recycling station in addition to the necessary technical and managerial assistance. APE will manage the project till it reaches sustainability.

Project Status:

H. E. Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak has formally inaugurated the recycling station on July 13, 2005. The factory has been built and equipped with 10 recycling machines. Thirty youth, fully trained by APE, are currently working on the production lines of plastic bags, plastic hangers and hoses as well as the tetra pack, within the newly built factory.