Friday March 29th, 2024
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This New Boat Will Remove 500KG of Trash from the Nile Every Week

With support from the Ministry of Environment, VeryNile has launched the VeryNile I, a cleaning boat with the capacity to pick up 500KH of trash from the Nile every week.

John Bichara

VeryNile has come a long way since its humble beginnings in 2018, when a bunch of young dreamers decided to take it upon themselves to take the trash out of the Nile river and make sure it goes where it should. Since then they've removed 55 tonnes of garbage from the Nile with the help of 3,800 volunteers and 30 fishermen. Now they've taken it to the next level with the launch of the first cleaning boat on the Nile: the VeryNile I.


VeryNile I is a fully electric vessel with the capacity to remove 500kg of solid waste weekly, and can be operated by just two people. The initiative has even garnered the support of the Ministry of Environment, as part of their push to promote waste management throughout Egypt's communities.


"We're very excited to launch VeryNile I in celebration of World Water Day," VeryNile Project Manager Mostafa Habib tells #CairoScene. "It's an amazing gift from German NGO One Earth One Ocean, and we're grateful to Magdy Ghali and Nile Taxi for building it here in Egypt. We hope to launch more cleaning boats soon."


The cleaning boat will sail alongside VeryNile's many other initiatives, including their collaboration with local fishermen who, in February 2021, removed 3.9 tonnes of plastic waste from the Nile.