From Plastic to Purpose: VeryNile’s Rippling Impact is Expanding

On a Saturday afternoon, as the city hums with weekend traffic, Al Qursaya Island moves to its own rhythm. Crowds wander through its open space, melodies float in the air. A photo exhibition lines one side, while children sing on a stage nearby. Ferries, adorned with decorations and banners, glide across the Nile, creating a riverborne procession as they shuttle people from Al Bahr Al Aazam to the island’s shore. They’ve all come for the second edition of the Nile Parade with VeryNile, a social enterprise dedicated to cleaning the legendary river and empowering its local communities.

Al Qursaya isn’t just any island - it’s where VeryNile first took root, and the first place where they’ve inspired change. And it is far from the last. Like ripples spreading from the fishermen hauling plastic from the river, their impact is expanding beyond Cairo. This year, they’re setting course for new cities along the Nile, reclaiming what was once discarded and turning waste into renewal. With operations anchored in Cairo and Assiut, VeryNile is now setting its sights on Sohag and Menia before the end of 2025.

Their story begins in 2018, when a small group of friends asked a question: Who's cleaning the Nile? They searched for any organisation tackling the problem, hoping to join forces, only to find that no one was actively keeping the river clear of pollution. So, they took matters into their own hands, forming an initiative called VeryNile and gathering waste from the river themselves.

When the lockdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic hit, a realisation surfaced: their efforts, while meaningful, were inconsistent. True environmental impact requires continuity. That’s when their mission evolved, not just to clean the Nile but to engage the community in doing so. They began working with fishermen, asking them to collect plastic waste. Then, they would buy the plastic from them, turning what was once pollution into a resource, and creating a new business model in the process.

“I think this is the point where VeryNile really started, when we looped the local fishermen in the cycle. They are an integral part of the Nile’s ecosystem, and they are the most affected by pollution,” Hana Tohamy, head of Partnership and Awareness at VeryNile, tells StartupScene. “The equation is simple: more plastic means fewer fish. We started with four fishermen, giving them an idea, and of course, we faced some resistance. Slowly but surely, they began to believe in it, especially when they saw that for every kilo of plastic they collected, we would pay them. Their excitement grew, and from just four fishermen, we’ve now reached 200 across Cairo, and Assiut.”

After building a permanent base on Al Qursaya Island, the operation found its rhythm. The location was chosen to ease operations for the fishermen, providing them with a nearby drop-off point for their collections before heading back onto the Nile. On the island, eight workers sort through the haul, separating waste into three categories. The first of these categories is high-value plastic, which includes bottles that are stripped of their caps, compressed into bales and shipped off to recycling plants.  Thanks to a tracking app called TrackTry, VeryNile can now monitor the entire journey of collected waste - from the fishermen who retrieve each bottle to its transformation at Maya, a Spanish factory where it is repurposed into brooms.

Then there’s mixed plastic, the detritus of everyday life. Discarded flip-flops, shisha pipes, bits of foam and fabric, things lost or tossed without a second thought. These can’t be neatly sorted or repurposed, so they are instead sent to factories where they are burned as alternative fuel.

But perhaps the most remarkable transformation isn’t happening in factories abroad - it’s unfolding right here, on the island. VeryNile.shop began almost by accident when Salma El Lakani, architect and co-founder of VeryNile, asked the residents of Al Qursaya what they needed. The women, in turn, expressed a keen interest in joining the recycling efforts. That simple exchange set the stage for a movement that would soon redefine their roles within the community.

“It’s essential for us to be present on-site - we've found this approach far more effective in raising awareness and engaging with the community. By the end of 2025, we hope to establish two new locations in Sohag and Menia.” Alban de Ménonville, Managing Director and co-founder of VeryNile, says.

The women started small, ironing discarded plastic bags into reusable totes and envelopes. Then, creativity took hold and transformed their experiments into a thriving craft, crocheting plastic into curtains, weaving baskets inspired by traditional khoos designs, and transforming bottle caps and detergent containers (HDPE plastic) into durable recycled sheets. These sheets find new life as furniture, coffee table tops, picture frames, and more, proving that waste can be reimagined into beauty and function. Today, over 30 artisans repurpose materials sourced from the Nile and beyond.

But just as they found the island, the island also found them. Beyond recycling, VeryNile’s work expanded to include the community in new ways. When Om Nada, one of the women on Al Qursaya, expressed her talent for cooking, it sparked the idea for Shoka w Megdaf, an eco-friendly food space where local women now cook and even grow some of their own ingredients. With more women involved, the initiative became more inclusive, and now even children take part, learning about recycling, craft-making, and the value of sustainability firsthand.

The story of VeryNile doesn’t end here. Outside the island’s territory, VeryNile hosts workshops and day-use programs for employees of major corporations, raising awareness about the impact of pollution and the importance of sustainable practices.

“Whenever we host companies like PNG, BUPA, and Schneider Electric, it’s striking how unaware many employees are of their own impact. But by the end of the day- after experiencing life without plastic- they leave as ambassadors for the environment,” Farah Abdelbaki,  Public Relations at VeryNile, tells StartupScene. “They begin to see that plastic is just a temporary fix, not a real solution. It’s a powerful transformation, watching them embrace a new mindset and recognize their own role in driving change from within.”

VeryNile has grown to become a fully-fledged social enterprise, accredited by Verra, a global leader in developing and managing high-impact programs for climate action, sustainability and environmental projects. Expanding beyond VeryNile’s community-driven work, their plastic credit initiative offers a tangible way for global companies to contribute to environmental efforts. These credits represent measurable amounts of plastic that have been prevented from entering the ecosystem, collected, or recycled, turning corporate responsibility into real, lasting impact.

“At VeryNile, we believe that every small action contributes to a greater impact,” Alban de Ménonville, Managing Director and co-founder of VeryNile, says. “By empowering communities, schools, universities and businesses to take part in cleaning and protecting the Nile, we’re not just removing waste; we’re fostering a culture of responsibility and sustainability for future generations. We know that it will take decades to restore what we have damaged, but we see hope in the future.”

Photography Credit: VeryNile