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Characterization and sustainable management strategies of municipal solid waste in Egypt

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to establish a national database of waste characteristics for Egypt to support the assessment of various waste management strategies. The study explored the potential of applying waste-to-energy (WTE) systems to alleviate the negative environmental impacts of waste disposal while providing a renewable source of energy. An extensive field study was conducted on 1200 households in the urban centers of four representative governorates, with the aim of finding the waste generation rates and composition in correlation with key socioeconomic features such as household income, family size, and electricity consumption. The per capita waste generation rates were found to range between 0.63 and 0.82 kg/day, and the waste was composed mostly of food (41–70%) followed by plastics (6–16%). The generation rates had significant negative and nonsignificant positive correlations with the family size and electricity consumption, respectively. The Egyptian governorates were sub-grouped under the four surveyed ones based on analogous local features. Accordingly, a high-level assessment suggested that a national strategic WTE plan for the urban regions in Egypt would involve incineration in five governorates and anaerobic digestion in the remaining ones. The proposed plan would lead to an estimated total energy production of 11 TWh per year, and an annual reduction in the country’s carbon footprint by approximately 7307 Gg CO2eq. Based on the current market conditions and waste service fees, the national WTE plan would be financially unviable; however, excluding capital investments, potential annual revenues could cover the operating cost and provide a steady profit. Charging 24 USD/ton as tipping fees for the WTE plants or increasing the electricity tariff to 0.076 USD/kWh, financial profitability of the proposed national plan would be achieved.

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Abbreviations

AD:

Anaerobic digestion

CAPEX:

Capital costs

CAPMAS:

Central agency for public mobilization and statistics

CVi :

Calorific value of waste material i

ECCH4 :

Energy content of methane

ERP:

Energy recovery potential

G i :

Quantity of processed waste material i

GDP:

Gross domestic product

GHG:

Greenhouse gas

GWP:

Global warming potential

IPCC:

Intergovernmental panel on climate change

LFG:

Landfill gas

M CH4 :

Mass of methane

MENA:

Middle East and North Africa

MSW:

Municipal solid waste

NPV:

Net present value

OPEX:

Operation and maintenance costs

WTE:

Waste to energy

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Acknowledgements

The field work presented in the paper is part of a development project funded by the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Cairo office. The authors are grateful for this support. Any opinions or positions expressed in this paper are those of the authors only, and do not reflect any opinions or positions of the GIZ.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

    Mohamed Abdallah, Mohamed Arab & Ahmad Shabib

  2. Department of Structural Engineering, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt

    Mohamed Arab

  3. Department of Public Works, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Rami El-Sherbiny

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Shakinaz El-Sheltawy

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  1. Mohamed Abdallah
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  2. Mohamed Arab
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  4. Rami El-Sherbiny
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  5. Shakinaz El-Sheltawy
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Correspondence to Mohamed Abdallah.

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Abdallah, M., Arab, M., Shabib, A. et al. Characterization and sustainable management strategies of municipal solid waste in Egypt. Clean Techn Environ Policy 22, 1371–1383 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-01877-0

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