This comes after the success achieved by their partnership in cleaning the Nile River from plastic waste in Cairo and Giza governorates. The expansion process included contracting a group from the local fishing community from Assiut who collected four loaded trucks of plastic waste from the Nile during their first month. Following the waste hierarchy, CEMEX will use the non-recyclable, non-hazardous fraction of the waste collected as Alternative fuel in its kilns to reach zero waste to landfills.
The initiative and its expansion come as part of CEMEX efforts to support a circular economy as part of its global business for providing circularity solutions, Regenera – including receiving, managing, recycling and recovering waste. Regenera supports the ambition to use more non-recyclable waste and industrial by-products as a more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels and natural raw materials.
CEMEX and VeryNile signed a cooperation protocol in June of last year to expand the scope of the initiative's operations in collecting waste from the Nile and supporting the fishing community of Qursaya Island. Since then, CEMEX has received around 40 tonnes of waste collected from the Nile that was used as an alternative fuel as part of the company's actions to support a circular economy.
"At CEMEX, we work on building a more sustainable future in line with our climate-action program "Future in Action". Since we started working with VeryNile, we wanted to expand the initiative to Assiut, and we are delighted to see the initiative taking off in our second year of cooperation", commented Carlos Gonzalez, CEMEX Egypt & UAE president.
Alban de Ménonville, managing director of VeryNile, said: "This first replication of our model opens the doors to a complete new scope of action. We are now able to support local communities everywhere on the Nile through applying the same model we have developed in Cairo. In the near future, we can potentially empower thousands of the fishing community to work for a cleaner Nile."
CEMEX continues to support its local community in Assiut through various partnerships that directly and indirectly impact the quality of life in the governorate. The company's initiatives also serve its global strategy to preserve the environment and support its partners' vision for a more sustainable world.
