Cabinet approves establishment of waste holding company

CAIRO – 25 May 2017: Egypt’s Cabinet approved Parliament’s demands to establish a waste holding company, Minister of Local Development Hisham al-Sharif announced Thursday.

The approval came during the hearing session held by the parliament’s local administration committee, headed by Ahmed al-Sijani, to discuss solutions for waste collection and recycling issues.

The session was attended by ministers of agriculture, environment, local administration and a number of governors.

Sharif said that the Cabinet agreed in principle on the Parliament’s demand to establish a waste holding company, and the government will prepare the required studies in this regard. He also called on waste specialists to contribute their proposals and studies for the issue.

For his part, al-Sijini praised the quick response from the government towards the MPs’ demands, asserting their willingness to cooperate with the government and provide the required studies.

In 2003, the Egyptian government contracted foreign companies to collect and manage garbage in the Greater Cairo area — which includes the Cairo, Giza and Qalyubia governorates — where residents are required to dispose of garbage in large bins in front of buildings to be collected by garbage trucks.

The system required residents to pay extra fees for garbage pickup on their monthly electricity bills, depending on where they live. Many people criticized the agreement by saying it had not achieved its goal; to clean up the streets of Cairo.