Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad and Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat have met to discuss methods of increasing investments for electronic waste recycling.
Fouad said that serious and effective steps are being taken in the electronic waste management field in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
Such waste is hazardous to human health and the environment, and it has proven necessary to develop a framework to facilitate the process of collecting such waste.
The Ministry of Environment is putting the finishing touches on the system for collecting, mechanising, and governing waste by technological means.
Talaat said that there is significant cooperation between the two ministries in the field of electronic waste, due to the importance of this issue. This has been evident in the Egyptian state’s issuance of a waste law to regulate work in this field.
Khaled Al-Attar, Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology for Administrative Development, Digital Transformation and Mechanization, said the Egyptian and Swiss governments have undertaken an agreement to organise work in the field of e-waste.
The agreement will provide the largest amount of electronic waste to factories, who will undertake a complete inventory of devices. This comes as part of Egypt’s move towards digital transformation, and the increase in the number of electronic devices in the country.
Tarek Al-Araby, Director of the Ministry of Environment’s Medical and Electronic Waste Project, said that the ministry aims to make the issue of electronic waste mainstream.
He revealed that studies show the government sector generates about 19% of electronic waste, with the private sector accounting for about 58%. Private homes account for about 23% of electronic waste.
The Ministry of Environment, in cooperation with partners, is working to launch an electronic application to collect electronic waste in exchange for discount vouchers on new products.
Al-Araby added that guidelines and booklets for mobile companies and the Governmental Safety Authority have been developed and adhered to. The results of these guidelines have been greatly exceeded.
He added that the Ministry of Environment has designed an application that helps families register their devices in exchange for discount vouchers, and that there are now seven electronic waste recycling factories in Egypt.
