City Centre Alexandria Undertakes an Integrated Sustainability Initiative for the Betterment of the Environment, Economy and Community

Cairo, Egypt: As part of its responsibility towards the community in which it operates, City Centre Alexandria recently launched an initiative that is considered one-of-its-kind, not only in Alexandria, but across Egypt. The initiative aims at managing waste responsibly, to turn the burden of disposing of it into an environmentally-friendly opportunity.

City Centre Alexandria’s sustainability initiative is in line with Majid Al Futtaim’s international best practices in sustainability which include developing and managing better buildings that are as environmentally efficient as possible to deliver social and economic benefits to local communities, customers and the supply chain.

"Environmentally friendly initiatives have been, and will continue to be, one of the main pillars of our sustainability activities, and are in line with our motto: creating great moments for everyone, every day," said Mostafa Kholief, Mall Manager for City Centre Alexandria. "This waste management initiative is a unique one, in terms of concept and implementation. As such, I believe that we’ve been able to take our contribution to bettering the environment to the next level."

City Centre Alexandria has dedicated special rooms in the mall for the waste management process, which includes food as well as other forms of waste disposed of by mall management, tenants and customers. To encourage mall customers to participate in the initiative, City Centre Alexandria placed a special recycling machine at the mall for recycling tin cans and plastic bottles. To raise awareness about the machine and encourage its customers to use it, the mall organized entertaining activities during September 2014; including a flash mob show in addition to unique gifts for the participating customers.

In addition to eliminating the need to dispose of mall waste, the outcome of City Centre Alexandria’s integrated waste management initiative is used as fertilizers for the surrounding landscape. The mall is also planning to donate the excess fertilizer to Alexandria Governorate to be used in the public areas of the city. To date, City Centre Alexandria has recycled 54 tons of food waste, which produced 15 tons of fertilizers that were used by the mall. By using food waste to produce fertilizers, the demand for manufactured fertilizers is decreased, leading to limiting CO2 emissions by 20 tons per year.

The waste management initiative also allowed City Centre Alexandria to offer job opportunities for experts in this field. The initiative started by hiring 25 recycling experts, a number that is expected to increase as the initiative expands.

City Centre Alexandria’s latest environmental initiative is one of the many ways through which the mall confirms its position as a responsible member of Alexandrian society.