Vermiculture in Egypt: - FAO - Regional Office for the Near East and

9. Analysis of the Egyptian context and applicability of vermiculture
as a means of greenhouse gas emission reduction.
In the waste sector, the Egyptian relevant ministries, in collaboration with concerned
governorates, have developed several plans and programs over the past ten years to
improve the process of collection, reuse and recycling of waste, yet there are several
barriers to achieving the goals of these programs. These include financial constraints
for the mitigation of greenhouse gass emissions from the waste sector; the significant
dependence on external financial support, as grants and concessionary loans,
complicating the planning process and slowing down implementation; limited public
awareness about the economic benefits of reuse and recycling of waste leads, leading
to the hesitation of funding institutions to consider waste management activity as a
viable option; the need of technology transfer and high investments for some waste
treatment options, such as anaerobic digestion; the weak enforcement of existing laws
and regulations for violations in handling waste.
9.1. Profile of wastes in Egypt
9.1.1. Municipal solid waste
Waste in Egypt can be considered as constituted of solid waste and wastewater. The
total annual amount of solid waste produced in Egypt is about 17 Mt according to the
year 2000 estimates. The amount of accumulated solid waste (i.e. waste not collected
and dumped in disposal sites but rather dumped on roads and empty lands) was
estimated to be about 9.7 Mt for the year 2000, with a total volume of 36,098,936 m 3
(EEAA 2007). This solid waste can be categorized into municipal waste, industrial
waste, agriculture waste, waste from cleaning waterways and healthcare waste.
Household waste constitutes about 60% of the total municipal waste quantities, with
the remaining 40% being generated by commercial establishments, service
institutions, streets and gardens, hotels and other entertainment sector entities. Per
capita generation rates in Egyptian cities, villages and towns vary from lower than 0.3
kg for low socio-economic groups and rural areas, to more than 1 kg for higher living
standards in urban centers. On a nationwide average, the composition is about 50-60%
food wastes, 10-20% paper, and 1-7% each of metals, cloth, glass, and plastics, and
the remainder is basically inorganic matter and others.
Currently, solid waste quantities handled by waste management systems are estimated
at about 40,000 tons per day, with 30,000 tons per day being produced in cities, and
the rest generated from the pre-urban and rural areas. Various studies indicate low
waste collection efficiencies, varying between less than 35% in small provincial
towns to 77% in large cities.
Final destinations of municipal solid waste entail about 8% of the waste being
composted, 2% recycled, 2% landfilled, and 88% dumped in uncontrolled open
dumps. In this respect, 16 landfills exist in Egypt: 7 in the Greater Cairo Region, 5 in
the Delta governorates and 4 in Upper Egypt. Their capacities range between 0.5 and
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