Egypt tops Arab states on Yale University’s EPI 2022 on recycling

05 / 06 / 2023

By Marwa Nassar - -

Egypt topped Arab countries listed on the Yale University’s Environment Performance Index (EPI) 2022 on recycling.

The university’s EPI measures recycling rates as the proportion of recyclable materials (metal, plastic, paper, and glass) recycled in each country. A score of 100 indicates a country recycles all recyclable post-consumer material, while a score of 0 indicates a country recycles no recyclable post-consumer material.

Egypt ranked number 42 globally on the index which included 180 countries. Morocco occupied the 44^th position, UAE the 48^th, and Saudi Arabia the 77^th.

Iraq and Kuwait ranked the 91^st, Lebanon 101st, Jordan 106th, Bahrain 110^th, Oman 111^th, Algeria 139^th, Tunisia 140th, Sudan 158^th, and Qatar 166^th.

A report – issued recently by the Egyptian Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) under the rubric “recycling…. road to sustainable environmental development” – said that Egypt has 28 recycling factories and this number is expected to increase 56.

Egypt has promising opportunities in the recycling domain, especially in light of the political leadership’s support for environmental action, the report said.

The report referred to securing incentives and financing to environmental projects and working on establishing several recycling projects, highlighting contributions of the private sector and civil society in this regard.

The report said that Egypt produces about 90 million tons of waste annually, 24.3 percent of which are recyclable and this offers great investment opportunity in the waste recycling domain.

The report noted that this sector encourages the establishment of small businesses, highlighting the economic sustainability that can be achieved through recycling alongside environmental sustainability.

The report underlined that recycling helps attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially with regard to climate action and environment protection.