‘Garbage City’ in Egypt gains from US-Iran war

In the labyrinthine alleyways of Cairo’s Garbage City, recycling specialist Peter Romany finds himself fielding calls from factories scrambling for plastic to plug supply shortfalls caused by the Iran war.

The 25-year-old is among the hundreds of recyclers and manufacturers across Egypt benefiting from a war-driven surge in demand ever since the US and Iran choked off the Strait of Hormuz.

At the heart of the boom is the sprawling eastern Cairo settlement of Manshiyet Nasser, where generations of garbage collectors have built one of the world’s most sophisticated informal recycling systems.

“Before the war, we were the ones calling factories, trying to sell our material,” Romany said. “But after the war broke out, the factories started calling us. They’d ask: How much do you have? Can you deliver today? That never used to happen.”

Home to more than 115,000 residents, Manshiyet Nasser handles more than one-third of the capital’s waste, government data showed.

Families live and work under the same roof, often separated from mountains of waste by little more than a staircase or curtain, exposing them to foul odors, plastic fumes and other health risks.

Downstairs, men sort plastics, cardboard, paper, metals and glass into neat piles destined for workshops and factories.

Upstairs, children pore over schoolbooks, mothers prepare lunch and TVs flicker in cramped living rooms, all against the constant background noise of shredders whining and baling presses pounding below.

The smell of rubbish hangs heavy in the air as pickup trucks and handcarts crawl through narrow alleyways, unloading the day’s collections while children weave between them chasing footballs.

Romany specializes in recycled polyethylene, one of the world’s most widely used plastics and a key ingredient in packaging.

Egypt imports about 40 percent of its raw plastic materials, according to Egypt’s Chamber of Chemical Industries.

Packaging and plastic prices have more than doubled for some products, three industry sources said, pushing manufacturers toward locally recycled alternatives.

Factories that would normally delay payment started putting down cash upfront, “because they were so eager to secure material,” said Rizq Yousif, who mainly recycles PET, the plastic widely used in beverage and food packaging.

Demand had tripled, while prices for some recycled plastics increased by up to 60 percent, he added.

The disruption has been good for local business along the value chain.

“We have been in this business for 16 years,” said Fayrouz El-Sayed, CEO of Sadat City Chemical Fibre Factory, which produces polyester fibers from used plastic bottles.

Due to the latest crisis, they have managed to crack new markets as far away as Brazil, she said.

Nesma El-Areef, senior marketing and sales manager at Uflex Egypt, which converts plastic waste into new packaging materials, said demand for the company’s recycled products rose by up to 40 percent.

Despite the gains, industry figures believe the boom could fade once supply routes stabilize.

Yousif said prices and demand began easing shortly after US President Donald Trump announced last month that negotiations with Iran were progressing.

However, after Trump this week said the US was reinstating its blockade of Iranian ports and “taking over” the Strait of Hormuz, orders have picked back up, Romany and Yousif said.

“We’re used to it by now,” Yousif said. “Whenever there’s trouble there, the customers start calling us.”