Lafarge Egypt and Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding (OTMT) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to develop a waste management framework in Egypt.

The new project will make possible municipal and agricultural waste to be processed into alternative fuels for utilisation at Lafarge’s cement plant in Egypt and elsewhere, said a worldcement.com report.

The agreement will help to generate jobs, reduce Egypt’s dependence on fossil fuels and contribute to the creation of a circular economy, it added.

The MoU was signed at the Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh earlier this month.

According to Lafarge and OTMT, the event was specifically chosen because it represents a ‘key milestone in the implementation of the government’s medium-term reform program designed to accelerate the economic development of Egypt’.

Hussein Mansi, CEO of Lafarge Egypt, said: “In line with our ‘Building Egypt 2030’ campaign, Lafarge is committed to help solve the issue of waste in Egypt, and take steps toward sustainable development.”

“At Lafarge Egypt, we feel it is our responsibility as a leader in building solutions to provide services beyond our normal scope in cooperation with Orascom Telecom Media and Technology,” he said.

“Sharm el-Sheikh was a natural place for this signature, given the importance of this conference for the country’s future and the implementation of the medium-term reform program designed to accelerate the economic development of Egypt,” he added.

Ecocem Industrial Ecology Egypt is a subsidiary of Lafarge Cement, responsible for developing, sourcing and pre-treating solutions for recovering waste as alternative fuels.

Over the last three years, Lafarge Egypt and Ecocem have carried out a number of projects to increase their alternative fuel utilisation, with the aim of reaching an average fuel substitution rate of 25 percent by the end of this year, it added. – TradeArabia News Service