Cash for Recyclables: “Go Clean” Incentivizes Citizen Recycling in Egypt

Egyptian Streets, by MIRNA EL SAIED

Excerpt—read on Cash for Recyclables: "Go Clean" Incentivizes Citizen Recycling in Egypt

“Go Clean” is a recycling solutions company aiming to reward citizens for their good and eco-friendly habits. It aims to increase awareness about the environment by involving the consumer with the recycling process through easy steps for which he or she is rewarded, not unlike Bekya.

The company was founded two years ago, in 2017; it was recycling with factories, companies and cafes. However, GoClean started the household door to door initiative in February 2019.

The founder of GoClean is Mohammed Hamdy, an alumni from the American University in Cairo with a Bachelors degree in philosophy.

Hamdy realized that Egypt needed more consideration and practical steps regarding recycling.

He decided to shed light on Egypt’s pollution issues by including the Egyptian consumer in the recycling process. This is done through easy four steps which are: firstly letting the consumer sort the recyclables by separating plastics, metals, and papers.

Then second step involves contacting Go Clean by phone or by sending a WhatsApp message with the location, and for the third step being for Go Clean to pick up the consumer recyclables.

The final stage is rewarding the consumer by exchanging the recyclables with cash (according to the weight of the recyclables) or household items such as antiseptics or hand washes, skincare products like body lotions, creams, soaps, Moroccan muds as well as other consumer goods.

Egyptian Streets spoke to Hamdy about his company’s plans and goals.

Tell us more about “Go Clean”, what inspired you to start this company?

I love the sea and that’s actually the reason as to why I started Go Clean. Go Clean was made after I realized that the sea is not like it used to be; it became much more polluted and we have to do something about it. So, I had the idea of encouraging people in Egypt to start recycling because it’s a good everyday habit, but in Egypt, throwing things out of the window of the car or throwing things in the street is a bad [existing] everyday habit. So, I came up with the idea of giving people an incentive to have them change their minds about throwing recyclables; they can actually exchange it for money and thus, we get to save the planet.

Also, since I’m a philosophy major, I’m always mind-oriented. I want to change the way people think in Egypt towards polluting. I want to have an impact and an input in changing the perspective in the way people act towards their environment by taking a very small step which is calling or texting us and sending us their location and for us to come to pick it up and reward them.