WASTE MANAGEMENT
Fiberglass from glass waste
Market
| Final Products | Chopped fiberglass for insulation panel and water pipes production – and other products |
| Required Inputs | Glass waste, limestone, sand, soda ash, borax, and binder coating |
| Competing Products |
Virgin glass-based fiberglass |
Process
| Complexity – Type of Process | Mechanical and thermal processing |
| Technology | Separation, crushing, melting, meshing, binding, polymerizing, cooling, and packaging |
| Equipment and Material | Crushers, grinders, color separators, oven, masher, binder, and chopper |
| Human Resources | Machine Operators, labor for manual operations, and drivers |
Advantages and Risks
| Competitive Advantage | High margins in recycling waste glass to fiberglass, competitive selling price compared to substitutes, high value added on glass waste, availability of high-quality cost competitive sand and limestone, ingredients needed in addition to the waste glass to produce fiberglass |
| Barriers to Entry | Securing a continuous level of glass waste supply to satisfy production demand, high CAPEX |
| Key Stakeholders | Informal waste collectors who provide segregated and washed glass, pre- processing firms that provide crushed glass or powdered- factories using fiberglass in their products |
| Special Regulations | NA |
| Risks and Mitigation Measures | Ability to meet daily demand for glass waste that may lead to interruption of production, which leads to high losses. Risk of unstable supply of gas to keep the furnace working. Mitigation measures are having a high inventory that can cover many days of operations even if the waste supply was not stable and having a stock of gas cylinders to use in case of a natural gas cut |
Economic Features
| Revenue Stream | Sale of fiberglass for insulation panels, water pipes, or other uses |
| CAPEX | The inputs and technology would cost an average of 32M EGP Note: This CAPEX represents the indicative investment size, however, this investment opportunity can grow in implementation to a larger-sized investment. |
| Investment Size | Medium (between 5-50M EGP) |
Geography
| Location of Supply | Supply is mostly in urban centers and large cities |
| Preferred operation regions |
Assiut, Alexandria, Cairo – (Suez if the focus is on export) |
Studies
| Serial | File name | Download |
| 1 | 19 Business Opportunities Economic Business Models in Egypt's Recycling Sector for Startups and SMEs_booklet |
