We Can Only Hope.

[Winged Isis]

THE ENVIRONMENTAL APP THAT COULD ACTUALLY CLEAN UP EGYPT

EIHAB BORAIE
07/10/2016 08:00

It’s easy to make Egypt look clean and beautiful in a #ThisIsEgypt campaign, but sadly this isn’t the reality on its garbage-strewn streets. With no efficient system in place or accountability for those providing waste management services in Egypt, the increasingly stinky issue remains an ugly problem. Looking to solve this problem is the Egyptian-based NGO Environ Reform, who have created an ingenious app and a system that can help the government, waste collectors, and residents clean up Om el Donya. Wanting to learn about the roots that sprouted this green-changing project, I sat down with COO Amr Fathi and CEO Mostafa Khairat to find out why this app may be the waste management solution Egypt has been waiting for.

It's no secret that Egypt isn’t as clean as can be, in some cases downright disgusting. Concerned about the state of Egypt’s environment, Amr Fathi set out to find a way to help clean the country. "We fundraised a factory and started the company Environ, which recycles mainly plastic bottles. We sort it, wash it, cut it, and then sell it to polyester factories to use it as raw materials. The problem was in buying the materials because collectors were seeing what we were doing so they kept increasing prices, which meant we needed to start going into collection," Khairat explains.

Pivoting from recycling to collection was an eye-opening experience for the company, which soon discovered that an ineffective system with little oversight existed between the government and waste collectors – which some may know as zabaleen. Refusing to use this disrespectful term, Fathi often refers to them as 'waste collectors' or 'the company', and with that respect began to blossom a working relationship benefiting both outfits. The next step was finding a financial backer who shared the same passion for cleaning the environment and could help sponsor Environ's new branch, Environ Reform, to test the concept. Filling the role was Dr. Seddik Affifi, who was more than willing to finance their first test project cleaning up the Omraniya district in Giza. According to Khairat, "First we had to prove the concept, so we started with a one-year pilot project in Omraniya in Giza, which amounts to 25,000 residential units and 5,000 companies. The operation cost roughly 2.5 million EGP and was very successful because people could see we were giving back to the community."

To do so, Environ Reform launched their app to residents of the district with the simple instructions that if they see garbage accumulating in their neighbourhood to simply take a picture of the mess. The picture is instantly shared on the back-end of their app, where they track where it is and send a waste collector to clean it up. In the event that the cleaning company is unable, Environ Reform would send out an emergency truck to deal with the matter. For the cleaning company to be alerted vastly improved their ability to manage the area. The problem wasn’t strictly the fault of so-called zabaleen, as over a decade ago they managed to effectively dispose of most of Egypt’s organic waste using pigs. That was until swine flu created a panic in Egypt. "They used to use pigs to eat all the organic matter and then collected the recyclables, but after swine flu went global, pigs were slaughtered and they no longer had a method to deal with organic waste," explains Khairat. Not only did this decision to cull pigs deprive them of a food source, but also resulted in them foregoing the collection of organic waste.

In an attempt to fill this void, the Mubarak government reached out to a foreign company to deal with Egypt’s waste. According to Khairat, "The Foreign company hired didn’t work because performance KPI wasn’t being properly monitored. For example, if you have a contract with the government for one million a month for a certain number of units, you only receive the million after the work has been judged or graded. If you receive a grade of 80 percent then you get 80 percent of the million. The problem was there was no structure to this system, no way to log the penalties, so the penalties became easily manipulated." With very little oversight at a time where corruption ran rampant, it became noticeable to many that waste management was better under the ‘zabaleen’ than under the foreign company.

Where Environ Reform solves the problem is with oversight using their invaluable back-end, which will be able to give the government a way of monitoring services provided while giving residents an opportunity to input feedback on the job done. "The end goal is to have the application be used by the government and the residents. As it stands, if you have a complaint about the job being done, there is no one and no way to file a complaint. At the same time, we’re providing the government a monitoring system and training without asking anything in return," explains Khairat.

One of the only concerns from the government is that, in order for the project to work, they would need to purchase smartphones and data for their supervisors to use the app. However, these concern do not trouble Environ Reform, who plan to solve this problem by reaching out to further possible sponsors not only to provide equipment needed but for another amazing side project that identifies garbage heaps on streets and not only removes them but beautifies the area by adding benches and landscaping. "Another part of this project is beautifying spots. We want sponsors who will donate money to fund projects to clean up an area, renovate schools, and even add landscaping. In exchange, we will make sure that the area mentions that it was beautified by the sponsor," Fathi passionately describes.The Ministry of Environment is in talks regarding the use of the app for its supervisors, and Environ Reform is optimistic that by end of the year they will be able to service all of Giza and, if that’s successful, the rest of Egypt. What makes this app and non-profit NGO stand out is that it finally puts an efficient cost-effective system for government, waste collectors, sponsors, and resident to solve one of Egypt’s most embarrassing problems.

Environ Reform is currently available for download on Apple and Androids, but at the moment is only servicing Omraneya district in Giza, and soon all of Giza. To learn more about their important work check out their Facebook.



http://www.cairoscene.com/BusinessAndPo ... n-Up-Egypt

[Major Thom]

I think this may be lip service again WI, like most things are. I just cannot understand why they do this and nothing comes to fruitition. I always used to think "We will see" in many cases I a still waiting.

[Dusak]

I'm all for recycling, and there are several carts on the go coming around, weighing your waste products, plastic, metal and what have you. And at the same time as well as getting rid of unwanted materials, its giving the collectors a living, if not some what meager. More better than an app, to my mind, is to employ a large regular workforce on all streets. That will make a big difference and create a lot of new jobs. But this country never sticks to the laws it creates, someone is allays stood on the bylines with a bit of cash in their hands to change things to their own wants and needs.

An example of this is that recently the very large ground floor area beneath the flats opposite me has just recently been leased out to a vehicle repair business. The in and out they use on the side of my street used to have a skip for rubbish, but they did not want a smelly receptacle close to their workshops. So they, whoever, had the mega brilliant idea of removing the skip and telling all those living closest to the workshop, including myself, to deposit all forms of rubbish on the corner of the street before ten every morning. A large lorry comes around, usually on time, and removes all the bags, but the street animals have already ripped them open. If any are left after the pickup, there they remain until the next day. My what once kept clean cul-de-sac is now generally litter strewn with me having to brush up other folks garbage. This now no longer skip used to be at the top of the street until a joinery firm opened a workshop close to it. It is said that they too paid a bit of cash to get it moved as the flies were a constant nuisance inside the workshop, continually getting fixed to the wet paint and varnish finishes they were producing. I think a can a fly spray would of suited everyone instead of moving a much needed item. From I see on my wanderings is that 95% of the Egyptian people do not give a dam about waste management, or the impact on their general health or surroundings.

[Horus]

Dusak is quite correct in his observations, keeping your local environment clean is down to the attitude of those that live in the area, if you are happy to deposit rubbish and litter in the streets and the canals then it will continue. Just look at the efforts of Dr Who over the years to try and improve the local environment and educate his neighbours, all of which seems to fall on deaf ears even after everything was provided for them. If one thing used to stay in my mind after a visit to Egypt was the amount of rubbish and filth, especially that dumped into the canals of Luxor.

[Mad Dilys]

That's very true Dusak and Horus - true of towns and cities, but it is remarkable how clean and tidy with a pride in their surroundings that small villages and remote hamlets have.

I made a detour once when ferrying an American tour guide from the airport. She had been based in Cairo for about 10 years. I decided to show her My Egypt and she was amazed. She kept saying where are the plastic bags? The same is true of animal care, far less neglect and down right cruelty in the countryside, though quite a bit of ignorance it's true.

When at a loose end while staying in Alexandria once I watched a rubbish bin in the early morning. First came a greengrocer who dumped broken crates with odd bit of rotting vegetables inside. Then came the sheep which ate the veg, followed by a chap with bundles of cardboard tied up with string. He threw the crates to one side which were speedily picked up by a man with a donkey and cart loaded with broken crates. The string was collected by someone who just took that, but hot on his heels was a man with a donkey cart who collected all the cardboard............ and so it went on over the next few hours, collectors seemed to specialise and the bin never overflowed though there must have been tons of rubbish dumped by the end of the day.

[Horus]

Then the rest gets dumped into the canal

[Mad Dilys]

No canal, maybe that's why they sorted it out?

[carrie]

The ex Governor of Qena introduced a fine system for anyone littering the streets, which was enforced. Even though he has now left for pastures new (Alex I believe) Qena is still one of the cleanest cities in Egypt. It can be done if there is a will.

[A-Four]

The ex Governor of Qena introduced a fine system for anyone littering the streets, which was enforced. Even though he has now left for pastures new (Alex I believe) Qena is still one of the cleanest cities in Egypt. It can be done if there is a will.

Well Carrie, the Qena story was a little more serious than what you are letting on here.

Qena was the main centre for the whole of Upper Egypt, and some would argue even Middle Egypt for vehicle body parts, and within a few years became the centre for in expensive reliable vehicle repairs also. With such a great industry throughout the main centre of the city, deep problems occurred.

Luxor suffers from a serious litter problem, Quena's was quite different, it was the oil and grease on the roads and pavements, add to this constant noise from repair shops and garages day AND night, not to mention the illegal paint spraying, again day and night,........So you can understand that when the new governor of Quena told ALL these such operators their activities would be moved out of town to the desert area, he had the full support of its residents, then he more or less simultaneously brought into effect the ban on rubbish.

I have not been to Quena for two years now, I hope things are as they were, when I last saw this beautiful city. Incidentally, the gentleman in question was offered Luxor, while I was still a resident of that city, he refused,........I do not wonder why. .

[HEPZIBAH]

I've given up worrying about rubbish collections in other parts of the world. At the moment my prime concern is getting my local refuse and recycling teams to acknowledge that my residence exists and, when they find me, how to recognise their bins and the difference between domestic waste and recycle.