CAIRO: In the labyrinthine alleyways of Cairo’s Garbage City, recycling specialist Peter Romany finds himself fielding calls from factories scrambling for plastic to plug supply shortfalls caused by the Iran war. The 25-year-old is among the hundreds of recyclers and manufacturers across Egypt benefiting from a war-driven surge in demand since the US and Iran choked off the Strait of Hormuz — a major shipping lane for the raw materials used to make plastic.

The Middle East is a major global supplier of polyethylene, with around 85 per cent of its exports passing through the strait.

In the labyrinthine alleyways of Cairo’s Garbage City, recycling specialist Peter Romany finds himself fielding calls from factories scrambling for plastic to plug supply…