Start-up TileGreen in Egypt recycles plastic waste into eco-friendly interlocking tiles used in outdoor walkways. All photos: AFP
At the factory near Cairo, mounds of plastic are funnelled into machines, shredded and liquefied before emerging as compact bricks
Noisy machines gobble up plastic scraps of all colours, shred them and turn them into a thick liquid
Each tile takes about 125 plastic bags out of the environment, says business partner Amr Shalan, 26
TileGreen workers sort waste. On the shores of the Nile, some fishermen now collect plastic in a project by the VeryNile group. 'They could see their catches decreasing', said project manager Hany Fawzy, 47
Plastic is churned in a TileGreen mixer
Egypt has pledged to cut its annual consumption of single-use plastic by more than half by 2030
A TileGreen worker prepares moulds of plastic waste. The country generates three million tonnes a year, much of which piles up in streets
Plastic is shredded before being recycled
In Egypt, activists have hailed what they see as a youth-led push for sustainability
The eco-friendly interlocking tiles will be used in outdoor walkways
More than two thirds of of Egypt's waste is 'inadequately managed', according to the World Bank
Plastic waste is dumped out of a mixer
TileGreen's tiles are 'twice as strong as concrete,' said co-founder Khaled Raafat, 24
