Eng. Hazem El-Ashmouny, Governor of Al Sharkia, confirmed that the state of readiness in the governorate has been raised during the rice harvest season to confront the phenomenon of burning rice straw, and the trend towards implementing a safe disposal system and proper handling of agricultural waste, pointing out the need for coordination between the heads of centers, cities and neighborhoods and the Environmental Affairs Agency and the Environmental Affairs Department at the General Diwan and the Directorate of Agriculture to educate citizens about the dangers of open burning of agricultural waste and allocating places for collecting agricultural waste away from main roads and residential blocks and educating farmers to transfer waste to those places and not burn it to avoid legal accountability. In a related context, Dr. Magdy El-Hosary, Head of the Regional Branch of the Environmental Affairs Agency in Sharkia and Ismailia, explained that the sub-operations room of the Ministry of Environment coordinated with the Directorate of Agriculture and Civil Protection to inspect and open 108 sites for collecting rice straw that comply with the requirements of civil protection in the governorate's centers and cities, in addition to renting a number of equipment (press - tractor - mill - grinder) owned by the Ministry of Environment to contractors for collecting agricultural waste at a symbolic rent with support from the Ministry of Environment. El-Hosary also explained that the Environmental Affairs Agency's operations room team issued 267 reports for farmers who burned agricultural waste within the governorate's centers. El-Ashmouny appeals to farmers not to openly burn agricultural waste (rice straw and corn stalks) and to benefit from it by recycling it, selling it, or using it as animal feed instead of burning it, and to avoid legal accountability, fines, and imprisonment.