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<\/a>ANBA interviewed TileGreen<\/a> cofounder & CTO Khaled Raafat. Together with his partner, cofounder & CEO Amr Shalan, Raafat saw an opportunity to turn plastic waste into something useful for the society, \u201cAmr [Shalan] worked in the waste management industry, and we worked together in many companies, then we saw this opportunity, as 85% of all plastic wasted usually goes unrecycled. Most of the plastic are disposable, single-use,\u201d said the CTO.<\/p>\n Over 100 million tonnes of plastic waste are discarded every year, said Raafat. \u201cSo we saw this opportunity to turn plastic waste into something useful and decided to work with long-life building materials<\/strong>. We wanted to offer products that lasted hundreds of years,\u201d said the businessman.<\/p>\n TileGreen started its journey by manufacturing ecofriendly paving interlocking tiles<\/strong> out of plastic and minerals, which can substitute concrete tiles or asphalt in outdoor locations such as streets, sidewalks, and parking lots. \u201cIt\u2019s a practical option and a good substitute for asphalt or concrete tiles, and for a similar price,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n This is just the beginning for TileGreen. According to Raafat, the plant based outside Cairo can accommodate the production of some 40 types of building materials, adding more sustainable options for the construction market.<\/p>\n The technology of tiles made from plastic waste is patented<\/strong> by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. TileGreen started as a startup around six years ago, and in 2021 it raised the funds to establish an industrial facility in 10th<\/sup> of Ramadan, some 50 km from Cairo.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re already on a good path, and over ten countries have requested the patent exploration license,\u201d said Raafat. Requesters include the Philippines, Chile, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and some countries in Europe.<\/p>\n The tiles aren\u2019t 100% plastic. They\u2019re made of more or less 20% of plastic waste and some 80% of mineral additives, which give them the ideal density and thermos-conductivity for it to be resistant to impacts and heat, said Raafat.<\/p>\n \u201cNeither concrete or asphalt melt or catches fire easily. Our product was tested and proved safe. It only starts suffering some deformation over 200 degrees Celsius, the CTO said.<\/p>\n The mission of Tilegreen, according to Raafat, is turning construction into a sustainable <\/strong>industry. The businessman said some tests have been carried out for three new building material products, and that ten other products are set to be launched over the next year.<\/p>\n They also aim to \u201cexist in five countries in the next five years,\u201d said Raafat. They include the UAE, which will host this year\u2019s UN Climate Change Conference (COP28), and Saudi Arabia<\/strong>, which is going through an exponential real estate boom, with the construction of new cities such as The Line inside the Neom <\/strong>project, and is concerned with a sustainable ecosystem according to the country\u2019s Vision 2030.<\/p>\n \u201cThe market is huge in both Egypt and the MENA region as a whole, but our production is still small compared to the demand of this market,\u201d he said. He added that they want to license products and an industrial franchise model by 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is our goal, as building materials are needed across the world. Of course, we still need some KPIs [key performance indicators], and we\u2019re now working on improving our technology. All our machines<\/strong> were designed by us and are part of the patent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Translated by Guilherme Miranda <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/a><\/a>