Egypt’s Minister of Environment, Yasmine Fouad; reviewed a report on the latest developments in the role of the Ministry of Environment in implementing the municipal solid waste management system over the past years, especially with the issuance of the Waste Management Regulation Law and its implementing regulations.
The Egyptian Minister of Environment stressed that creating promising investment opportunities in the waste sector, in partnership with the private sector, civil society and entrepreneurs, is the most important goal of the ministry, especially in light of the recent trend towards enhancing environmental and climate investment opportunities in general.
She referred to the birth of the new environmental and climate investment unit under the umbrella of the Ministry of Environment to search for promising investment opportunities and create networking channels between financing and donor institutions with the private sector and entrepreneurs.
Fouad explained that through the role of the Ministry of Environment in implementing the new municipal solid waste system, and the part related to the establishment of the infrastructure of the system.
Accordingy, 23 sanitary landfills for waste were established in Egypt’s governorates of the New Valley, Beni Suef, Sohag, Menoufia, Giza, Fayoum, Beheira, Matrouh, Luxor, Aswan, South Sinai, Sharkia, the Red Sea, North Sinai and Suez.
With regard to the safe closure of random dumps and the removal of historical accumulations, the Egyptian Minister of Environment indicated that the ministry has developed an integrated plan to deal with this file, to study and implement the safe disposal of random waste dumps.
“To ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of the implementation of the solid waste management system, the government was keen to integrate the informal sector in the field of municipal waste management within the formal work system, by signing a cooperation protocol between the ministries of environment, manpower and social solidarity,” she added.
This agreement guarantees the issuance of new job titles for workers in the system in the fields of collection, transportation and recycling, to be included in the National ID, allowing them to join the social insurance umbrella of the state.
