Abstract

Today Egypt is in an enormous energy conflict; it faces choices about what energy sources it will use in the future. Conventional fuels are becoming increasingly expensive and there is recognition that these fuel resources are finite. Some estimates indicate that native natural gas and oil reserves, on which Egypt's electricity generation currently relies, will run out in about 30 or 40 years, making the transition to alternative energy sources a pressing need to avoid stagnant economic development.

Renewable energy technologies are slowly being introduced in rural communities to promote alternative sources of energy from biomass, which are abundantly produced. The calculated potential for biomass resources in Egypt is expected to reach 40 million tones per year. According to the New and renewable Energy Authority (NREA) the contribution of biomass to primary energy may reach more that 3.6 million tones of equivalent energy. Furthermore, biodiesel and biofuel production technologies for domestic use are currently in the research and development phase.

Bio-fuels are major source including the municipal solid waste reforming process. Municipal solid wastes have been inadequately managed for many years in the country. Waste collection systems have left large areas (up to 70 percent in some cases) of towns and cities unserviced or under-serviced. Large amounts of wastes piled up in streets and vacant areas between buildings, in addition to the spread of informal dumpsites in a number of central areas. Open burning as a means of waste disposal has become one of the main sources of air pollution in Egypt. The government had, therefore, to take action to find a suitable solution for this aggravating problem and to implement the integrated waste management.

This paper discusses the waste management in Egypt and has initially started in the city of Alexandria, the second city in Egypt that has some positive contributions sustainable development, in co-operation with the French company “ONYX” since 2000. This innovative initiative is the first of its kind in Egypt. It covers the full spectrum of waste management activities from street cleaning to collection and treatment of all the household and commercial waste generated in the city.
Further step is the transformation of waste into energy through a Refused drive Fuel (RDF) process, using some complicated machinery. This is being introduced to the government for implementation in the near future.