Egypt is one of the world's biggest date producers. The millions of tonnes of palm waste have caught the eye of young entrepreneurs, who have found new ways of re-using it and benefiting local communities too.

Cairo

In Egypt, efforts are underway to revive the traditional palm products industry by utilizing palm waste in sustainable ways. While some farmers and designers are creating eco-friendly products and contemporary furniture from palm fronds, most palm waste is still discarded due to high costs and labor demands. 

To address this, scientists in Cairo are developing scalable technologies to transform palm waste into biodegradable materials for industrial use, such as packaging and insulation. These initiatives aim to combine traditional knowledge with modern science to reduce waste and promote sustainability in one of the world's largest date-producing countries.

Egypt: Reviving the palm products industry

Time seems to stand still here in this palm grove in Dahshur, 40 kilometers south of Cairo. Dates are being harvested from the tall trees using ancient simple methods and nothing is left out. Every part has its use, like a human, it's generous and it's useful. Born and raised here, Khaled Al-Khazaz has always felt a deep connection to this land. Today he shares that connection with visitors from around the world on his eco-friendly farm. A village like ours used to have more than 10 workshops working with palm fronds. Now you'd be lucky to find even one or two. Plastic took over and traditional crafts are disappearing. Egypt is one of the world's largest producers of dates and with every harvest comes millions of tons of palm waste. For centuries farmers have used every part of the palm but these traditions have faded over time. Nowadays the leftovers are mostly burned or thrown away. But Khaled is reviving the old knowledge, proving that sustainability isn't new. Every branch, every leaf has its place in a cycle where nothing is wasted. We make recycling bins from palm frond waste along with pallets, tables and foldable chairs inspired by Tutankhamun's design. All eco-friendly products, all made from the palm tree. But this circular model using all parts of the plant remains rare. For most Egyptian date farmers reusing palm waste is too costly or labor-intensive. Yet just a few kilometers away another approach is taking shape. In a small workshop south of Cairo, a sustainable design studio is reimagining palm waste, turning it into contemporary furniture and design objects. It all began as an experiment to create art and functional objects from a sustainable material. I chose palm fronds and it worked. Now we make furniture, cladding and flooring and our new collection is a hundred percent palm frond based. Palm fronds are tough and unpredictable and a challenge for the crafts folk who work with them. But the team here transforms them into traditional yet modern designs, proving that what some consider waste can become art and more. Working palm fronds on machines is tough. They wear out the tools quickly but the finish is better than wood. When we saw the final results I really fell in love with the work. The workshop does good business and shows what's possible. Still it remains a small-scale operation. Considering the huge amount of palm waste generated in Egypt and elsewhere, it cannot address the greater need. The furniture will stay. It's a design studio so it works with architects, with projects and it's not meant for mass production. Here however, on Cairo's eastern edge, scientists at a research and development company are thinking bigger by studying palm fibers at the molecular level. Their research aims to transform palm waste into biodegradable material and fibers that can be used for products like sustainable packaging or insulation. The handcraft sector, it's not intended to be scalable. If we're looking at what are the possible industrial raw materials that can be developed from the palm waste, this is where scalability is necessary. Mohamed Bidani says he wants to expand solutions that can process and reuse millions of tons of palm waste produced every year in northern Africa and many Arab countries. We have two main technology platforms. One platform is called PalmFill, which is a technology to transform the palm residues into textile fibers and reinforcements. And we have another technology platform which is a technology that transforms the date palm residues into soilless growing media and sorbent. From the date farms of Dahshur to Cairo's workshops and laboratories, Egypt's palm waste story is one of rediscovery where tradition, creativity and science meet. It's a story of people determined to make every leaf count again because sometimes the answers to our future lie in the roots of our past.

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