Suez Cement initiative for greywater recycling in schools

Suez Cement Group of Companies (SCGC) pays due attention to the protection of environment and preservation of its resources, where this issue acquires increasing importance through raising awareness of the society of the necessity of environment protection.

Within this framework and in cooperation with Ain El-Bee’ah Association, Helwan Cement Company has implemented the project of greywater recycling in Fouad Aziz Ghaly and Kafr El-Elw primary schools under the slogan of “a drop of water is worth life”. This initiative aims at saving water, decreasing cost of treatment and recycling water optimally.

Greywater recycling is the treatment of water resulting from hands and clothes washing and showering through phases in order to be reused in irrigating non-fruitful trees in the gardens, the matter which contributes in increasing greenspaces and providing drinking water. Also, this water contains no organic matters.

Water recycling in general is one of the most important bioprocesses made by the world recently as a serious attempt to give real hope to the humanity, where the shortage of drinking water represents major threat to the survival of the universe.

SCGC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jose Maria stresses the Group’s efforts in spreading the culture of responsible and sustainable businesses in enhancing awareness of the importance of the role the Group is playing in maintaining environment friendly business environment. He said that the social responsibility represents a voluntary strategy that enhances performance of the Group through minimization of the environmental impact, contribution in serving the local community and good management of the workplace and markets with which the Group is dealing. This was the reason behind the Group’s concentration on improving its business environments to be more sustainable and, therefore, the project of recycling greywater in schools to be reused in many purposes including agriculture was launched, he noted.

Helwan cement manager, Eng. Mootaz Yousri said that this initiative shows continuation of the company’s contributions in the social responsibility fields in general and in the field of supporting education in specific. He added that the greywater restoration project has many benefits such as reducing pressure on the water resources, using water more effectively and efficiently, increasing the agricultural area thanks to availability of greywater to irrigate large areas, achieving self-sufficiency due to adopting the idea of recycling water from the site, working to address the climate changes phenomenon and participation in achieving goals of sustainable development and Egypt’s Vision 2030.

For his part, the General Manager of El-Tibbin Educational Department Dr. Sheriff Rashad said that the project is a new experience adopted by the department under the auspices of Helwan Cement Company to prevent wasting water. He added that it is one of the leading initiatives in saving water and reducing water wasting, where it is an application of the planned national strategy to confront water scarcity on the level of the Republic. He explained that this project represents a new positive addition in light of the continued cooperation between El-Tibbin Educational Department and Suez Cement Group.

Chairwoman of Helwan Neighborhood Mrs. Nahed Abdel-Karim stressed importance of this experience as a way to rationalize water consumption along with the possibility of expansion in agriculture and greenspaces without wasting the drinking water. She thanked Helwan Cement Company for sponsoring this initiative, stressing importance of partnership between the private sector and civil society institutions and the impact on improvement of the educational environment.

Describing it as a leading experience, Mrs. Abdel-Karim said that Egypt aims at preserving water, adding that restoration of the greywater to be usable is a successful experience to build better future for next generations and to keep the clean water only for the drinking purposes without wasting water in another purpose such as gardens irrigation. She explained that the cost of water desalination is very high and, therefore, we must preserve every drop of water and put this issue on top of our priorities in the coming period. She stressed that preservation of water resources is a behavioral issue and needs effective response on the level of citizen and society.

Within the framework of its policy to support programs of nature protection and as part of its social responsibility program, which focuses on a number of basic issues of concern to the local community including the environment protection, Suez Cement provides not only financial support, but also employees’ participation in implementation of the project on the ground.

In this context, a team of 15 volunteers from Helwan Cement Company cooperated with Ain El-Bee’ah Association in implementation of the project’s various phases including planting the greenspaces in the two schools.