CAIRO — While negotiations over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) have been brought to a standstill, Cairo is channeling its efforts to preserve the waters of the Nile by supporting local initiatives, such as VeryNile to remove plastic waste from the river, the main source of fresh water in arid Egypt.

With the support of Egypt’s Ministry of Environment and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), VeryNile started its activities in 2018 under the slogan “Cleaning the Nile, one kilo at a time.” In recent weeks, the media has praised the initiative after removing tons of medical and plastic waste from the water and employing fishermen, who have been hit hard as pollution kills the fish.

The co-founder of VeryNile, Mostafa Habib, told Al-Monitor over the phone that they have managed to collect 52 tons of solid garbage, including 15 tons of plastic waste, from the Nile River so far. He said that they are about to get a boat from donors to sail the Nile from south to north to collect plastic waste.

To achieve the campaign's goal of making the Nile River 100% free of plastic, the initiative's founders also launched a project to improve the lives of fishermen by providing them with additional income from garbage collection and recycling operations. In addition, they established a campaign to raise awareness among Egyptians about the risks of throwing plastic garbage into the river, including the Nile Environmental Education Program for school students to reduce the use of single-use plastic bags.