Across governorates in the Delta, vulnerable communities are benefiting from Delta Oil’s circular economy approach.

    

The Challenge

An estimated 500,000 tons of cooking oil waste is produced annually in Egypt. For 90% of households, finding a way to dispose of their used cooking oil (UCO) results in pouring it down the drain or into their village’s sewers, rather than using a proper disposal technique. As this continues to happen, drainage systems and crops begin to suffer, further jeopardising their already vulnerable living conditions.  

The Organisation

In 2017, Delta Oil was founded by Serag Moussa, a young entrepreneur with experience in the industrial gas industry. Starting as a small initiative in the city of Tanta, Delta Oil has become a legally registered company, whose model is available across Delta’s governorates including Mansoura, Neha and Benhira.   

Delta Oil’s circular economy approach offers underprivileged communities an opportunity to exchange their used cooking oil (UCO) for cash payment or/and social services. Once Delta Oil has collected the UCO, they process it in their warehouses and export it to biodiesel firms based in Holland, London and Barcelona. 

As they expand, Delta Oil has recruited local partners to collect UCO from neighbours/friends. As part of their social impact, they provide these local partners a one-day training course on collection and quality assurance techniques. Once this training is completed, Delta Oil collects the UCO from the local partners on a weekly or monthly basis, depending on the amount needing collection. 

Alfanar's Support: Looking Ahead

As Delta Oil expands across Egypt, they will proceed to identify and train new LPs across the Delta's governorates and establish a new network of refugees and migrants based in Alexandria. Alfanar is supporting Delta Oil to develop a transformation plan and a monitoring and evaluation framework that will help them to accurately measure their social impact. 

Delta Oil is part of SEMD, a regional project initiated and funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and implemented by GFA Consulting Group and Endeva. 

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