How Egypt is tackling single-use plastic waste in buildup to COP27 summit 

Special Volunteers in Cairo collect plastic from the Nile as part of a cleanup campaign. (AFP)
Volunteers in Cairo collect plastic from the Nile as part of a cleanup campaign. (AFP)
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Updated 23 October 2022

How Egypt is tackling single-use plastic waste in buildup to COP27 summit 

How Egypt is tackling single-use plastic waste in buildup to COP27 summit 
  • Millions of tons of plastic waste are thrown into the Nile River every year, destroying fishing communities
  • Egypt’s resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh will host the 27th UN Climate Change Conference in November

CAIRO: For millennia, the Nile River has nourished the great civilizations of Egypt with copious fresh water, rich deposits of silt, plentiful fish, and means of navigation and trade. However, nowadays, the river carries another far less appealing bounty – plastic waste.

According to the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, about 4.5 million tons of waste flow into the Nile annually.

The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research also found that the Nile is one of 10 rivers contributing to 90 percent of plastic waste entering the world’s oceans. Another study carried out by Sky News in 2021 found that 75 percent of the Nile’s fish contain microplastics.

To highlight both the environmental harm and the sheer ugliness of the floating trash heap, environmentalists and volunteers recently joined forces to build a giant pyramid – modeled on those of the nearby Giza Plateau – made entirely out of discarded plastic.

Built to coincide with World Cleanup Day on Sept. 17, the pyramid is made from more than 7,500 kg of plastic derived from around 250,000 upcycled bottles gathered from the Nile by a team of 60 fishermen over a period of 45 days.




A pyramid of waste highlights the scale of the problem. (Supplied)

World Cleanup Day is a global movement that brings together millions of volunteers to remove trash and other mismanaged waste from the world’s beaches, rivers, forests, and streets.

Designed and built by the VeryNile eco-initiative, established five years ago, the pyramid consists of 170 blocks, each weighing roughly 45 kg.

By assembling these blocks into the shape and scale of a pyramid, organizers hoped to demonstrate the enormity of the plastic waste problem, encourage recycling and responsible waste management, and promote a reduction in single-use materials.

Furthermore, by imitating Egypt’s most recognizable monuments, organizers also hoped to show that the eyesore of plastic waste is a blight on the country’s beauty and heritage.

To mark World Cleanup Day, organizers held an event dubbed “Play by the World’s Largest Plastic Pyramid.” Volunteers, influencers, and celebrities participated in cleanup with kayaks, created art, and held recycling workshops using discarded single-use plastic bags.

The pyramid will eventually be disassembled and sent to a local factory, which uses plastic to make strings and covers for car seats.




World Cleanup Day is a global movement that brings together millions of volunteers to remove trash and other mismanaged waste from the world’s beaches, rivers, forests, and streets. (Supplied)

“We are aiming to reach and clean every single inch of the River Nile in Egypt of plastic waste, as it really harms marine life, and fishermen can hardly find fish sometimes,” Hanaa Farouk, project manager at Bassita, the Egyptian social enterprise behind VeryNile, told Arab News.

“Our success over the past years would not have been the same without collaborating with our great team of local fishermen and talented women.”

To this day, fishermen rely on the river for their livelihoods. However, plastic waste kills off the Nile’s once plentiful fish stocks. That is why VeryNile is working to restore the fishing industry by making 40 local fishermen their Nile ambassadors on Qursaya Island, Cairo.

Qursaya Island, in the heart of the Nile, is today home to several recycling workshops and a workspace for local women to produce crocheted accessories, hats, bags, laptop cases, and other products from recycled single-use plastic bags.

VeryNile offers these communities financial assistance, paying fishermen 10 EGP (around $0.50) for every plastic bottle they collect. The initiative also hires fishermen to sort and compact these bottles before they are sent to factories for recycling and repurposing.

VeryNile raises environmental awareness through its clean-up events, which occur at different spots along the riverbank, both inside and outside Cairo, bringing together volunteers from various companies, banks, and other entities.

THENUMBER

7,500 - Kilograms of plastic derived from 250,000 upcycled bottles gathered from the Nile.

These events are done with kayaks or a cleaning boat, which is the first in Africa and can collect 500 kg of solid waste per week.

The Middle East and North Africa region faces a plethora of challenges in confronting the buildup of plastic waste; according to the World Bank, over 570,000 tons of plastic are thrown into the Mediterranean Sea every year, wreaking havoc on industries that rely on the sea, from fishing to tourism.

Additionally, widespread consumerism in Gulf countries has led to large amounts of discarded single-use plastic, with five Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait) ranking in the top 10 per capita generation of solid waste. Saudi Arabia produces 15 million tons of waste annually - only five percent recycled.

Egypt is not the only country tackling the plastic waste problem. Lebanon, Morocco, Jordan, Oman, Bahrain, the UAE, and Tunisia have all implemented local and national laws limiting the importation and use of single-use plastic bags. Sharjah, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi have all implemented fees on plastic bags and committed to banning them by 2024.

Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have drafted laws or made policy recommendations to ban single-use plastic bags or replace them with biodegradable ones.

In line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 reform strategy, the Kingdom plans to invest over $6 billion into recycling by 2035. Saudi civil society groups also encourage people to recycle; the Mawakeb Alajer group has established recycling facilities where people can drop off everything from used paper to unwanted furniture and clothing.

The Saudi Investment Recycling Company, founded in 2017 to develop recycling capabilities in the Kingdom, plans to meet the objectives of Vision 2030 by enabling the creation of a circular economy – that is, an economy in which raw materials and finished products are re-used, repaired, and recycled for as long as possible.




A picture taken on September 29, 2022 shows plastic and garbage floating on the bank of Nile River in Cairo. (AFP)

In March last year, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the Green Saudi Initiative and the Green Middle East Initiative. Though they primarily focus on cutting carbon emissions, preserving and restoring natural habitats are high-priority goals.

The crown prince later announced the formation of a government body to oversee the violation of the Kingdom’s environmental regulations, vowing to hold polluters accountable.

Egypt is working on reducing plastic consumption in the upcoming years through a national strategy that aims to eliminate the negative impact of plastic on health, the environment, the economy, and society. The country aims to cut the consumption of plastic bags to 100 bags per person by 2025 and 50 bags per person by 2030.

The drive to ban single-use plastics often starts locally, as in Egypt’s Red Sea Governorate, which in June 2019 prohibited the single-use of plastic bags, plastic cutlery used in restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets, groceries, butchers, fisheries, and pharmacies, and during safari and boat trips.

Following the steps of the Red Sea Governorate, South Sinai’s Dahab announced a ban on the use of plastic bags across the city in July 2021.




Women recycle singleuse plastics into fashion items and other products as part of a VeryNile eco-initiative. (Supplied)

VeryNile’s pyramid project comes just ahead of COP27, the UN Climate Change Conference, which will be held in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh during the second week of November.

At COP26 in Glasgow last year, hundreds of countries pledged to support energy transitions and climate change mitigation in the world’s poorest countries – those which contribute very little to carbon emissions and pollution but are the most affected by climate change.

In May, Egyptian special representative to the COP27 president Wael Aboulmagd said that helping developing countries adapt to climate change would be a priority in the upcoming conference, despite wealthy nations saying they would not deliver the $100 billion per year promised for stated goals.

At the end of September, Egypt called on all nations participating in COP27 to put aside political differences. Some countries staged a walkout in June to protest Russia’s presence at a UN climate meeting in Bonn.

Though 90 heads of state have confirmed attendance at the conference, the global economic strain brought on by coronavirus recovery efforts and the conflict in Ukraine may put environmental concerns on the back burner.

 


Love abounds as Copts join and assist Muslims for iftar in Egypt

Love abounds as Copts join and assist Muslims for iftar in Egypt
Updated 9 sec ago

Love abounds as Copts join and assist Muslims for iftar in Egypt

Love abounds as Copts join and assist Muslims for iftar in Egypt
  • Pope Tawadros II praised for providing food to the poor
  • Hundreds of meals distributed to homes and hospitals

CAIRO: With the advent of Ramadan, several Christian churches and organizations have organized Rahman or Mercy banquets for Muslims at iftar, to foster a spirit of tolerance and unity.

Maya Morsi, president of Egypt’s National Council for Women, praised Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St. Mark, for providing food to help the poor, and his supervision of the packing of the cartons that are titled “Love Never Falls.”

Morsi posted on her Facebook account, saying: “Love never falls. Pope Tawadros II helps collect charitable donations for distribution in Ramadan. We are in a bond until doomsday.”

Last week, Pope Tawadros II participated in the preparation of Ramadan food aid as part of the Coptic Orthodox Church’s charity drive, through several programs and institutions affiliated with the Pontifical Office for Projects.

In the city of Luxor, in southern Egypt, a number of Copts set up daily Ramadan iftar tables.

Romani Ramzi Ajaibi, one of the organizers of the iftar project, said 10 years ago he started with a number of his brothers and other relatives to provide food for iftar, a tradition initiated by his father.

Ajaibi told Arab News: “The organization of the banquet confirms that the Coptic and the Muslim are brothers in one homeland. Everyone is currently fasting, with some minor differences between them.”

He explained: “The iftar banquet table contains all meals daily, including meat and poultry, and professional chefs working in hotels are used to prepare it. And more than 500 meals are provided for hospital patients.”

Bishoy Ramzy, another organizer, told Arab News: “There are other meals that are distributed to the poor daily and delivered to their homes by those who are ashamed to go to the iftar banquet table (to take charity).”

Ramzi stressed: “I believe that compassion and cohesion between Muslims and Christians only generate love among all.”

In Alexandria Governorate, in northern Egypt, the Church of the Virgin Mary and Pope Kyrillos VI in the El-Zawaida area, east of Alexandria, distributed 250 bags of Ramadan necessities to the most vulnerable families in the Montazah neighborhood.

Yones Adeeb, pastor of the Catholic Church in Hurghada, a Red Sea Governorate city, also joined Muslims for iftar, taking food to people on the streets. Adeeb participates regularly in Islamic celebrations, including distributing sweets on Prophet Muhammad’s birthday.

Adeeb said: “This year, we prepared Ramadan bags to distribute to the needy, as the blessed month of Ramadan carries spiritual and humanitarian meanings.”

“I always share iftar with our Muslim brothers on the first days of Ramadan.”

 


UN raises quarter of $1bn Turkiye quake funds target

Ozlem Yildirim with her child at a banana plantation in the quake-hit town of Samandag, southern Turkey, where she lives. (AFP)
Ozlem Yildirim with her child at a banana plantation in the quake-hit town of Samandag, southern Turkey, where she lives. (AFP)
Updated 01 April 2023

UN raises quarter of $1bn Turkiye quake funds target

Ozlem Yildirim with her child at a banana plantation in the quake-hit town of Samandag, southern Turkey, where she lives. (AFP)
  • Saudi Arabia, US, Kuwait, European Commission, UN’s emergency fund CERF top five donors
  • Donors pledged 7 billion euros to help Turkiye and Syria recover, although Ankara has set the bill for rebuilding at well over 10 times that figure

GENEVA: The UN said on Friday it had so far raised a quarter of the money it needs for relief work in Turkiye after the earthquake that killed more than 55,000 people.

Donors have so far contributed $268 million to the $1 billion flash appeal issued by the UN following the 7.8-magnitude quake on Feb. 6 and its aftershocks that devastated swaths of southeast Turkiye and parts of war-torn Syria.
The UN humanitarian agency’s spokesman Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva that the initial emergency phase had ended.
“Now we are involved in the humanitarian emergency phase, where we look at what the survivors need,” he added.
On Feb. 16, the UN launched an appeal for $1 billion to help more than 5 million people in Turkiye during the first three months after the quake.
The US, Kuwait, the European Commission, the UN’s emergency fund CERF and Saudi Arabia are currently the top five donors.
Laerke said UN and other humanitarian agencies had reached more than 4.1 million people with basic household items and clothes.
Of those, almost 3 million have been reached with emergency food aid.

HIGHLIGHT

The 7.8-magnitude quake on Feb. 6, and its aftershocks, killed more than 55,000 people and left many more in dire conditions.

And 1.6 million have received water, sanitation, and hygiene assistance.
The EU hosted a conference in Brussels earlier this month to raise money for reconstruction, the longer third phase.
Donors pledged 7 billion euros to help Turkiye and Syria recover, although Ankara has set the bill for rebuilding at well over 10 times that figure.
The UN has a twin flash appeal for Syria to help survivors over the first three months, which has raised $364 million of the $398 million requested.
Some 1,177 UN relief trucks have so far entered northern Syria from Turkiye.
“Since last month, we and our partners have provided shelter support, including tents, to nearly 100,000 people.
“Partners have also distributed more than 850,000 ready-to-eat food rations and over 1 million hot meals to people across affected areas,” Laerke said.
Meanwhile, the earthquake damaged more than 20 percent of Turkiye’s agricultural production, the UN’s food agency said.
The Food and Agriculture Organization said initial assessments in Turkiye revealed “severe damage to agriculture, including crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as rural infrastructure in affected areas.”
“The earthquake severely impacted 11 key agricultural provinces affecting 15.73 million people and more than 20 percent of the country’s food production,” it said in a statement.
“The earthquake-affected region, known as Turkiye’s ‘fertile crescent’, accounts for nearly 15 percent of agricultural GDP and contributes to almost 20 percent of Turkiye’s agrifood exports.”
It estimated the quake had caused $1.3 billion in damage, through the destruction of infrastructure, livestock and crops, and $5.1 billion in losses to the agricultural sector.
When the earthquake hit, buildings collapsed, crops were damaged and animals were killed, but the resulting devastation also created shortages of barns, food and vaccines for livestock that survived.

 


After being fired, Israel’s defense minister caught in limbo

Yoav Gallant. (AP)
Yoav Gallant. (AP)
Updated 01 April 2023

After being fired, Israel’s defense minister caught in limbo

Yoav Gallant. (AP)
  • Gallant is still on the job as his boss Prime Minister Netanyahu never even sent him a formal termination letter

JERUSALEM: Five days ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defense minister set off a wave of spontaneous mass protests and a general strike that threatened to paralyze the country, forcing the Israeli leader to suspend his divisive plan to overhaul the judicial system.
But Netanyahu never even sent Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant a formal termination letter, a spokesperson for Netanyahu said. As of Friday, Gallant — whose criticism of Netanyahu’s planned judicial changes led to his dismissal — was still on the job. Gallant’s aides said it was business-as-usual at the Defense Ministry.
As local media this week crackled with reports of Netanyahu considering whether to replace Gallant with stalwarts of his right-wing Likud party, Gallant remained in limbo — and even so, the public face of his ministry.

SPEEDREAD

Gallant greeted the Azerbaijani foreign minister, toured two military bases and attended Tuesday’s security Cabinet meeting this week.

He greeted the Azerbaijani foreign minister, toured two military bases and attended Tuesday’s security Cabinet meeting this week.
On Thursday, Gallant attended a celebration ahead of the Jewish Passover holiday with the director of the Shin Bet security service, his office said, releasing a photo of him smiling beside Director Ronen Bar.
“We have a duty to calm the spirits in Israeli society and maintain an inclusive and unifying discourse,” Gallant said at the holiday toast.
The questions swirling around the fate of Israel’s crucial Defense Ministry — which maintains Israel’s 55-year-old military occupation of the West Bank and contends with threats from Iran, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and the Gaza Strip’s militant Hamas rulers — reflects the tensions tearing at Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition after one of the most dramatic weeks for Israel in decades.
It’s also a leadership test of Israel’s longest-serving premier as he governs a deeply polarized country and faces charges of corruption.
Netanyahu’s decision to pause plans to weaken Israel’s Supreme Court in the face of the country’s biggest protest movement underscores the complex juggling act that the prime minister must perform in holding together his governing coalition, experts say.
On one hand, Netanyahu must please his far-right and religiously conservative coalition partners — supporters of the judicial overhaul — who vaulted him to power even as he stands trial.
But he also must weigh grave concerns over the plan from Israel’s closet ally, the United States, as well as anger from more moderate politicians and, significantly, dissent from within Israel’s military over fears the national crisis could threaten the country’s security. A growing number of military reservists had declined to report for duty in protest of the measures, raising concerns that the crisis could harm Israel’s military capabilities.
Netanyahu’s office declined to comment further on Gallant’s unresolved situation. But the conflicting pressures have resulted in an impasse over Gallant’s future and who serves as defense minister.
“Netanyahu has extremists surrounding him and they want to see blood, they want to see Gallant removed,” said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Those politicians include far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezazel Smotrich, who received outsized power in coalition deals that persuaded them to join the government.

 


Jordan witnessing evolution in political modernization: Hanns Seidel official

Jordan witnessing evolution in political modernization: Hanns Seidel official
Updated 31 March 2023

Jordan witnessing evolution in political modernization: Hanns Seidel official

Jordan witnessing evolution in political modernization: Hanns Seidel official
  • Modern legislation allows youngsters to participate, says regional representative Christoph Dewartz
  • Goals are in line with the objectives of the government in strengthening the role of women, youth in public work

AMMAN: Jordan is witnessing a remarkable transformation in its modernization of the political system, a Hanns Seidel Foundation official said on Friday.
Christoph Dewartz, the regional representative of the HSF’s Jordan office, said: “The country is moving toward the goals set to enhance the role of youth and women in partisan and political participation.”
He told the Jordan News Agency that the country’s legislation allowed people to participate in a way that moved civil society toward the future it wants, while giving it new impetus to face challenges.
The HSF, which is a political research foundation, has been committed to its fundamental philosophy of “serving democracy, peace and development,” since its formation in 1966.
Dewartz told Petra that the HSF and the Jordanian government both wanted to increase and strengthen the participation of women and youth in public work.
He added that this would be through programs implemented by the foundation in partnership with the government and CSOs.
He said: “[The] HSF sought to achieve the recommendations of the Royal Commission to reform the political system, since it established several programs and projects to educate Jordanians about the new partisan laws and the need to participate in decision making and policies.”
The foundation has supported the training of 4,500 public officials and youths on the subjects of good governance, integrity and combating corruption.
Dewartz added that next month the foundation will launch the She Can project, which aims to create a national pressure platform for women in remote areas of Jordan.


Scientists show Syrian rubble safe to use in new concrete buildings

Scientists show Syrian rubble safe to use in new concrete buildings
Updated 31 March 2023

Scientists show Syrian rubble safe to use in new concrete buildings

Scientists show Syrian rubble safe to use in new concrete buildings
  • Researchers from UK, Syria and Turkiye find greener way to reduce costs of rebuilding country
  • At least 130,000 buildings in Syria thought to have been destroyed by conflict, earthquakes

LONDON: Scientists in the UK, Syria and Turkiye have shown recycled concrete rubble from buildings ruined in the Syrian civil war can be safely used in new concrete construction.

It means the country, which along with Turkiye was devastated by a serious earthquake in February, can use the estimated 40 million tonnes of concrete debris at its disposal to help rebuild in an environmentally friendly, cost-effective manner.

The scientists showed that incorporating the old concrete into up to half of new concrete aggregate (small pieces of rock) mixes does not significantly weaken it.

Rubble, crushed and checked for impurities from 10 sites in northern Syria, was used in aggregate mixes tested for strength and resistance to corrosive gasses and water.

Having passed all the tests, the scientists now believe that the same standards could be applied to concrete rubble in other parts of the world.

Prof. Abdulkader Rashwani, a concrete expert from Sham University in Aleppo, was forced to flee to Gaziantep, Turkey during the civil war. He traveled back to Syria daily to conduct his research.

Forty percent of the buildings in Aleppo are thought to have been destroyed over the past decade.

“A lot of people needed our help, so we went there and forgot about all the bad consequences,” he said. “We have now started to go to some local councils and help them to put some plans in place for the future. We can at least try to make this region safer and give people some hope.”

In total, around 130,000 buildings are thought to have been destroyed across Syria, with 70 percent of them made from reinforced concrete. As well as buildings, the new findings could be used to replace and fix other infrastructure, such as damaged roads.

Dr. Theodore Hanein, of the University of Sheffield in England, said that the project had been “awesome” and could “make a difference.”

“Sadly, the war has left many buildings destroyed and now, after the devastating earthquake, even more buildings have been damaged or destroyed in northern parts of the country,” he said.

“People will want to rebuild the places destroyed. (Recycling) will save a lot of transportation from bringing in raw materials and that’s usually where you have the most cost and aggregate is becoming scarce. People (in Syria) basically have nothing at the moment.”

The research was published in the Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering.