For energy-hungry manufacturers, the math lately has been brutal. Skyrocketing global coal prices are squeezing margins, making conventional imported fuels very costly. However, a lucrative homegrown pivot is gaining momentum: turning everyday trash into industrial fuel.

Profitable enough: Currently, one ton of high-quality alternative fuel costs between EGP 1.2k-2k, making it drastically cheaper than imported conventional fuels, Waste Management Regulatory Authority CEO Yasser Abdallah tells EnterpriseAM. It also solves a massive strategic headache for cement manufacturers: producing the low-carbon cement required to unlock lucrative European export markets.

Early movers: Titan Cement just locked in a 15-year concession to build three waste-to-energy plants in Sharqia. Backed by an EGP 450 mn investment, these facilities will process 3k tons of waste every day. Titan will pay an EGP 2-2.5 mn annual land usufruct fee, and, with contracts being finalized soon, production is expected to kick off before year-end, a senior government official tells EnterpriseAM.

The government is eager to replicate this. To feed growing investor appetite, the Environment Ministry has put 14 investment prospects on the table — the first batch of 40 planned for this year for thermal energy projects, we are told.

The details: These projects range from small to large-scale plants across the country, requiring initial investment between EGP 5-50 mn. To sweeten the pot, the government is drafting a package of incentives that includes land allocations, easy financing, and major tax and customs exemptions on the high-tech machinery needed to get these plants running.

DATA POINT- The country generates a staggering 25 mtpa of municipal waste. Currently, our 35 recycling plants can only produce about 1.4 mtpa of alternative fuel.

But the landscape is shifting rapidly. The country’s waste recycling rate has already jumped to 37% from a dismal 12%, Abdullah noted. The ambitious target is to hit 80% by 2030, a move that will simultaneously protect valuable land, establish safe sanitary landfills, and save local infrastructure from being choked by waste accumulation.

The regulatory catalyst: Right now, only six of the country’s 24 cement plants produce their own alternative fuel. However, the government intends to mandate that alternative fuels make up 20-25% of the cement industry’s total energy use, effectively doubling the current 10% requirement.

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