Cairene fishers’ shift to plastic collection grabs the attention of the int’l press

Egyptian fishermen cleaning Cairo’s Nile of plastic bottles have landed quite a catch by capturing the attention of the international press, with The Guardian spotlighting how the roughly 180 fishers of Al Qarsaya Island — opposite Al Bahr Al Aazam Street — are now earning far more from harvesting plastic waste than from fishing itself. The outlet talks to Mohammed Ahmed, who now spends his mornings navigating the river to hunt for discarded plastic bottles before sending them out to a recycling facility in Sixth of October.

The article points to the role of VeryNile, an initiative launched by Egyptian social enterprise Bassita in 2018. By paying fishers significantly above-market rates for the waste they retrieve, VeryNile has transformed river cleanup into a highly reliable and lucrative income stream. So far, the program has equipped the community with 150 boats at no cost and successfully removed over 450 tonnes of plastic from the water.