Egypt’s Ministry of Environment has announced that it is preparing to launch the E-Tadweer application, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, which will enable citizens to dispose of their electronic waste and reduce their consumption of electronic devices.
Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad said that efforts are underway to implement the application and that it will enable citizens to gain incentives in the form of discount vouchers that can be used in purchasing appliances. The government has granted licenses to seven factories so they could safely recycle electronic waste.
Additionally Minister Fouad added that the ministry is developing legislation to convert the informal sector working in e-waste into an official sector in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program for the safe disposal of electronic waste.
She said that this is in response to the trend of digitisation as well as the expansion of the use of solar panels which will result in increased e-waste, and the challenges facing its sustainable management. It coincides with the government’s strategy to safely get rid of solid waste, medical waste and agricultural leftover, while also launching its new solid waste collection system in different governorates.
Following on an MoU from 2016, between Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and the Swiss Embassy “to support the integration of small- and medium-scale companies in recycling electronic waste in Egypt” the country’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat, Minister Fouad and Swiss Ambassador to Egypt Paul Garnier discussed the different ways sustainable recycling projects can be pushed forward in Egypt.
In addition to creating and facilitating an environment-friendly process to get rid of e-waste, Minister Talaat said such projects will create job opportunities for people in the e-waste treatment field while the Swiss Embassy will be responsible for the provision of technical support for the safe management of e-waste.
