Egypt has managed to turn rice straw from waste into a product, Minister of Environment Khaled Fahmy said on Monday. 

In a press conference, Fahmy said that the government also adopted measures to encourage gathering the rice straw to put into effect an agro-waste system introduced by the ministry instead of burning it.

The new system has been implemented in Sharqiya and is planned to be carried out in Beheira, he said. The system involves newly-invented machines, he further noted.

Fahmy stressed that the new measures have led to a decline in burning the rice straw, the main cause of what is known as "the black cloud".