Egypt Kickstarts E-Waste Initiative by Offering Discounts on Old Electronics

Growing up in Egypt, some of you might be all too familiar with having an old TV or VCR player, collecting dust in the corner. Or perhaps you’ve grown accustomed to giving your old electronics to the ‘robabekya’ man. Or maybe you just throw it in the trash, without knowing where it goes from there. But the thing about electronics is that they're often filled with special components like silicon, copper or even gold, which can be dangerous or valuable - and should therefore be recycled carefully. And when you factor in the statistics, which show that the private sector generates around 58% of the country's electronic waste, while the government sector generates about 19% and households contribute 23%, it becomes even more crucial to consider.

Looking to help us get rid of appliances in an eco-friendly manner is a new initiative from the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. They're launching an app that will allow you to give away your old appliances and, in return, provide you with discounts to buy new ones. The initiative will also collect electronic waste from the government and private sectors.

Currently, there are seven factories in Egypt that recycle electronic waste, and five more are currently in the process of being licensed. An agreement is currently in the works between Egypt and Switzerland to manage Egypt’s electronic waste.