STORY: This Egyptian startup is aiming

to turn billions of plastic bags into tiles

Locator: Sharqiya, Egypt

TileGreen's product could reduce the amount

of waste going into the Mediterranean Sea

and help bring down emissions

from the building sector

Plastic waste is melted and compressed

at a factory on the outskirts of Cairo

The tiles are used for outdoor paving

(Khaled Raafat, TileGreen co-founder)

“So far, we have recycled more than five million plastic bags, but this is just the beginning. We aim that by 2025, we will have recycled more than five billion plastic bags. Currently, we have plans to expand in Egypt, and we have plans to expand in some Arab countries. We started working on this with our partners, real estate developers and contracting companies who tried our product and liked it very much and want to spread its usage.”

Egypt is one of the worst polluters

in the Mediterranean region

Nearly 82,000 tons of plastic

waste enter the sea each year

That’s according to a 2020 report by the

International Union for Conservation of Nature