Population 101,847,821
Total e-waste generated in 2019 (kt) 586
Mobile phone waste in 2019 (kt) 3.92
Legally binding e-waste policy Yes
Global policy
| Title of regulation | Description | Status | Legally binding | Legislation naming convention |
| The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (Supported by document Implementation Status of Egypt for the Basel Convention) | The overarching objective of the Basel Convention is to protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects of hazardous wastes. Egypt: The International Cooperation Department,Waste Management Regulatory Agency, Ministry of Environment, is responsible at the national level for the implementation of the Basel Convention. |
In force | No | EGY01 |
Regional policy
| Title of regulation | Description | Status | Legally binding | Legislation naming convention |
| Analysis of Existing E-waste Practices in MENA Countries | Egypt’s mobile phone operator Mobinil is very active regarding sustainability issues including e-waste. According to Sherif Eissa, Mobinil’s Health and Environment Director, “greater efforts are now being made to educate the public about the hazards of the inappropriate disposal of electronic waste. Mobinil, he adds, has been working with a recycling factory in 6 October city in this regard, and this factory, opening in March 2012, will be the first to carry out such specialised recycling in Egypt. Eissa said that the export of used electronic devices to developing countries could be harmful, and that the media should inform the public of the need to hand over any electronic refuse to collection centres in preparation for recycling.” A Mobinil awareness expert, said that “the company was also cooperating with the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs and the Assiut Environmental Protection Society to educate people about the safe disposal of batteries and electronic gadgets. Awareness programmes have been conducted in 65 schools in Alexandria, and Mobinil was working with the Ruh Al-Shabab Society to set up a recycling school in Manshiet Nasr.” Mobinil and the Egyptian Society for Complementary and Modern Medicine (ESCMM) are also organising seminars in Ismailia and establishing collection points for e-waste. ESCMM said that four collection centres for e-waste were now operating in the Al-Salam, 24 October and Gamaa Qadima sections of Ismailia. |
Existing | No | EGY09 |
National policy
| Title of regulation | Description | Status | Legally binding | Legislation naming convention |
| The Environment Law | The law that governs environmental protection in Egypt is Law No. 4 of 1994, and its amendment Law No. 9 of 2009 and its executive regulations. The law does not address or mention e-waste of any type. The law addresses waste in a clear manner and implicitly addresses hazardous e-waste among other hazardous wastes described as hazardous and dangerous. Article 29 of Law No.4 guides the inclusion of new entries into the lists of hazardous wastes, providing that: The ministers (within their respective scope), and in coordination with the Minister of Health and the Environmental Affairs Agency, shall issue a table of the dangerous materials and wastes referred to in (the glossary) of the present article. WEEE are listed in the lists of the respective industry sector and legalised by a ministerial decree since 2002 (see Annex 3a and 3b). Interpretation of this list and associated decree needs more refinement, promotion and enforcement among WEEE generators or traders. Import Requirements: Article 32 Law 4/1994 & 9/2009 and its amendments and executive regulations. It is forbidden to import hazardous waste or to allow its introduction into or its passage through Egyptian territories. It is forbidden without a permit from the competent authority to allow the passage of ships carrying hazardous waste in territorial seas or in the exclusive maritime economic zone of the ARE. |
In force | Yes | EGY02 |
| Telecommunications Regulation Law | MCIT Telecommunications Regulation Law 10/2003 prohibits the import of used telecommunication terminal equipment for the purpose of trading. | In force | Yes | EGY03 |
| Decree 165/2002 | The decree includes a list of hazardous waste that is prohibited to import or traded within Egypt without a license issued by the Ministry of Industry; the list included: Waste from electrical assemblies or electronic or scrap containing components such as accumulators, batteries banned mercury-switches, glass pipeline from cathode, other activated glass, PCB capacitors rays chlorination or PCB contaminated with any of the dangerous elements in concentrations sufficient to exhibit one of the hazardous characteristics. | In force | Yes | EGY04 |
| Policies of the Communications and Information Technology Sector (2012-2017) | Policy which encourages industry to take into account proper recycling/disposal of waste tablet computers, as well as encouraging the public sector to develop a WEEE legislative framework. | Existing | No | EGY05 |
| Decree 165/2002 | Lists WEEE resulting from EEE in the manufacturing industry as hazardous waste that is prohibited from import. It is unclear if it also applies to WEEE generated from end-users. | In force | Yes | EGY06 |
| Decree 703/2007 | Amended operational procedures for inspection of goods under the Import and Export Law by stipulating that imported used mobile phones and computers and their peripherals may not be older than five years from the date of production. A 2010 decree reduced the maximum age to three years. | In force | Yes | EGY07 |
| Egyptian Green ICT Strategy | MCIT adopted the Egyptian Green ICT Strategy in close cooperation with MSEA and the Green ICT stakeholders’ committee was established in 2010. The committee includes members from public and private sectors, NGOs, regional and international agencies. The Green ICT program is dealing with ICTs from a cradle to cradle perspective, with a special focus on developing a sustainable management of e-waste programme. | In force | No | EGY08 |