Celebrating World Clean Up Day, Plastic Bank in cooperation with Banlastic Egypt and GIG Insurance, have launched an environmental initiative to set a new Guinness World Record by cleaning more than 10 beaches in Alexandria in just two hours. This major initiative was launched under the auspices of the Ministry of Environment, and with the participation of 200 volunteers.
Approximately 3,000 to 4,000 kilograms of plastic waste were collected to be recycled via Plastic Bank’s ecosystem.
This initiative aligns with Plastic Bank’s strategy of reducing plastic pollution in the River Nile and Egyptian seashores. It also strives to educate the society on the importance of proper disposal of plastic, thus serving the 14 sustainable development goals and achieving Egypt 2030 Vision.
This prominent event illustrates Plastic Bank’s endeavours to expand in the Egyptian governorates near Cairo. Similarly, Plastic Bank has organized an event, earlier this month, to clean one of Kafr El-Sheikh’s beaches. The initiative was supported by the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Youth & Sports, Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate Office, and in cooperation with Lafarge Egypt. During the event, over 50 young volunteers from the governorate were able to clean a 1 km² beach in Baltim. They collected almost 20,000 plastic bottles that were recycled through the Plastic Bank ecosystem. During the closing ceremony, the Plastic Bank held an awareness seminar, attended by the participants.
“We are honoured to be a part of this remarkable achievement today. We are even more pleased to join forces with the various stakeholders who aim to reduce plastic pollution. This initiative will help serve our strategy to expand across various Egyptian cities and create an ecosystem for waste collection and recycling. Additionally, we aim to raise awareness of plastic pollution’s negative impacts, as well as further encourage young people’s participation in our initiatives.” Amr El-Kady, Regional Director for Egypt, Middle East and Africa at Plastic Bank.
“Plastic Bank is currently operating in 4 Egyptian governorates, namely: Cairo, Kafr El-Sheikh, Alexandria and South Sinai. We aim to reach a total of 7 governorates by the end of 2021. Plastic Bank’s ecosystem offers an effective solution for the environmental challenges resulting from plastic waste, while addressing the social and economic challenges of poverty and unemployment. Accordingly, we contribute to helping the world end water pollution, while improving the standard of living in the communities that partake in our waste collection activities.” added El-Kady.
“Plastic Bank has recently succeeded in covering the waste collectors with medical insurance. It is an essential part of the incentives they receive, in return for the plastic waste they collect.” El-Kady explained.
It is worth mentioning that Plastic Bank has applied its ecosystem for the first time in Egypt via 3 collecting centres in Manshiyat Nasser. These initiatives have contributed to creating greenfield job opportunities for the plastic waste collectors, so that they can sustain a regular income to support their families. Plastic Bank is working on developing a collection system that employs Egyptian labour and ensures collecting up to 5,000 tonnes of plastic waste/ year. The system is designed to create 1,000+ job opportunities within two years. The sectors involved are: waste collection, transportation, processing, and trade & manufacturing of recycling equipment.
