{"id":683999,"date":"2026-03-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/?post_type=goinggreen&p=683999"},"modified":"2026-03-03T09:03:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T09:03:05","slug":"egypts-construction-boom-is-creating-a-waste-problem-and-a-window","status":"publish","type":"goinggreen","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/goinggreens\/egypts-construction-boom-is-creating-a-waste-problem-and-a-window\/","title":{"rendered":"Egypt\u2019s construction boom is creating a waste problem \u2014 and a window"},"content":{"rendered":"

O<\/strong>n the drive across C<\/strong>airo, the problem announces itself<\/strong> before anyone names it.<\/strong> Piles of rubble sit where sidewalks should be. Broken concrete hugs overpasses. Bricks, mortar, and dust line side roads like permanent fixtures. With the real estate boom happening, construction never really stops in Egypt \u2014 and neither does demolition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a big city, and our big city \u2014 fortunately \u2014 is considered a construction site all<\/strong> the time<\/strong>,\u201d Adham El Mahdy, sustainability director at Lafarge Egypt and general manager of its waste arm Geocycle, tells EnterpriseAM, arguing that demolition never really stops either. The issue isn\u2019t unique to Egypt, but it\u2019s more pronounced here because construction is relentless \u2014 bridges, roads, compounds \u2014 and capital keeps flowing into real estate.<\/p>\n

Construction and demolition \u201cwaste\u201d \u2014 or, as the industry prefers to call it, \u201cmaterials\u201d <\/strong>\u2014 begins as raw input, yet instead of re-entering the construction cycle, it is often treated as a burden to be disposed of. \u201cTens of mns of [tons] of waste remain unmanaged and underutilized,\u201d El Mahdy said. Compounding the problem is the lack of a clear national baseline: estimates of annual waste generation vary widely, and there is no recent, publicly available official data. That data gap complicates policymaking, weakens enforcement, and deters investment in a sector that relies on scale and predictability to function efficiently.<\/p>\n

Reuse isn\u2019t the problem \u2014 economics is. <\/strong>After sorting and crushing, pure concrete waste can partially replace aggregates in new ones, while mixed demolition waste can be reused as construction aggregates. Steel rebar is already recycled back into iron production. Other fractions can be used as raw material inputs in cement manufacturing. \u201cThe market today never rejects a material as long as it performs [\u2026] unless the economics don\u2019t work,\u201d El Mahdy tells us.<\/p>\n

!_Subhead_! In today\u2019s market, the cheapest option always prevails<\/strong><\/p>\n

High costs of transporting and processing these materials tilt the balance against <\/strong>recycling<\/strong>.<\/strong> \u201cWhen logistics alone add a fixed cost per ton, recycled material can easily lose its price competitiveness versus virgin alternatives,\u201d El Mahdy explains. \u201cOnce you account for collection, transport, and processing, recycled materials must compete in a market where virgin inputs are often structurally cheaper,\u201d he adds. Moreover, Egypt\u2019s construction market is not regulated like Europe\u2019s, where mandates force the use of recycled, low-emission materials, which means sustainability alone doesn\u2019t move purchasing decisions.<\/p>\n

The fix is to make dumping expensive enough that recycling becomes competitive<\/strong>.<\/strong> \u201cIf waste continues to be treated as having negligible value, the system will never finance itself,\u201d El Mahdy argues. Today, contractors can dispose of waste for as little as EGP 15-50 per ton, and, in some cases, recyclers even pay a token amount to take it off their hands. Raising disposal fees to around EGP 400 per ton would flip that logic, turning what is now lost to landfills or informal dumping into the gate fee that flows to recyclers \u2014 directly or via the state \u2014 helping cover processing and transport costs and making recycled materials commercially viable.<\/p>\n

A missed window for the state? <\/strong>If properly priced and managed, El Mahdy estimates that construction and demolition waste represents a window for bns of EGP \u2014 capable of financing new recycling infrastructure, creating jobs, and supplying the market with cheaper alternatives. The wider economics reinforce the case: reduced reliance on quarries, less mining activity, lower fuel and equipment use, fewer permits, and slimmer transport bills. \u201cAll the matters indicate that the general interest is to reconsider the business model of this problem,\u201d he said \u2014 framing it not as waste management, but as a missed industrial prospect.<\/p>\n

The risk of ignoring it becomes alarming when looking next door:<\/strong> The war in Gaza has generated some 60-68 mn tons<\/a> of rubble, mostly concrete, bricks, and metal from destroyed buildings. \u201cIt can\u2019t be exported \u2014 it must be recycled in place,\u201d El Mahdy noted. That reality, he argues, demands a clear financing framework \u2014 one backed by donors or public financing \u2014 because there are simply no alternatives.<\/p>\n

!_Subhead_! What needs to be done<\/strong><\/p>\n

The solution starts with creating steady demand.<\/strong> The government could require a gradual increase in the share of recycled materials used in concrete, then extend similar rules to bricks, paving stones, and road projects. At the same time, disposal fees need to reflect the real cost of dumping. Higher fees would discourage landfill use and make recycling financially viable. With clear price signals and ensured demand, recycling facilities would have the confidence to invest and expand. A phased rollout \u2014 starting with reporting requirements and moving toward binding targets \u2014 would give companies time to adapt.<\/p>\n

The bigger challenge is coordination.<\/strong> The construction sector operates in silos, even though costs and emissions are shaped across the entire chain. Design choices alone determine much of the building\u2019s long-term footprint. Materials used during construction account for about 30% of emissions, while energy after completion accounts for the remaining 70%. Unless designers, regulators, developers, and suppliers work within the same framework, progress toward greener and more efficient buildings will remain slow and uneven.<\/p>\n

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links <\/strong>to our background as well as external sources.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What looks like waste could finance infrastructure, jobs, and cheaper materials<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":684000,"template":"","categories":[7266],"tags":[130,72,7109,83,451,368],"class_list":["post-683999","goinggreen","type-goinggreen","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-going-green","tag-construction","tag-enterpriseam","tag-going-green","tag-real-estate","tag-recycling","tag-sustainability","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"56b15664-a145-40ae-b057-3c1c5f9de4cc","order":"12","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"2","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2026\/3\/138.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"The EGP-bn play in construction waste","related_issue":[683978],"teaser":"What looks like waste could finance infrastructure, jobs, and cheaper materials"},"yoast_head":"\nEgypt\u2019s construction boom is creating a waste problem \u2014 and a window - EnterpriseAM Egypt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/goinggreens\/egypts-construction-boom-is-creating-a-waste-problem-and-a-window\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Egypt\u2019s construction boom is creating a waste problem \u2014 and a window\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What looks like waste could finance infrastructure, jobs, and cheaper materials\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/goinggreens\/egypts-construction-boom-is-creating-a-waste-problem-and-a-window\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EnterpriseAM Egypt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-03-03T09:03:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2026\/3\/138.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/goinggreens\/egypts-construction-boom-is-creating-a-waste-problem-and-a-window\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/egypt\/goinggreens\/egypts-construction-boom-is-creating-a-waste-problem-and-a-window\/\",\"name\":\"Egypt\u2019s construction boom is creating a waste problem \u2014 and a window - 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