Title: Turning trash into cash: a Cairo tradition takes a new tack.

POPLINE Document Number: 075662

Author(s):

Jensen L

Source citation:

SOURCE, 1990 Jun;2(2):14-7.

Abstract:

Manchiet Nasser is the workplace of more than 10,000 Zabbaleen or garbage collectors, who collect an sort the household garbage of Cairo. Manchiet Nasser and 6 other settlements are part of one of the oldest and most extensive recycling operations in the world. This traditional system relies on donkey carts and thousands of small entrepreneurs who buy used materials. The Zabbaleen include 2 distinct groups. In the 1930s landless farmers, mainly Coptic Christians form Upper Egypt, began assisting the Wahis in garbage collection. The Wahis still administer the system, while the Zarrabs (or pig breeders) do most of the physical labor. The Zabbaleen have remained physically and socially on the fringes of society. In the early 1980s with over 10 million inhabitants, growing by 1000 more each day, Cairo's garbage was rapidly overtaxing the system. The Environmental Protection Company (EPC) includes representatives from both the Wahi and Zarrab communities. the EPC won a bid to mechanize part of Cairo's household garbage collection service. Their 20 trucks now cover 2 residential areas where 40 donkey carts once operated. The city also offered contracts to other private sanitation companies, which were given free access to city landfills for dumping. Up to 500 factories in Cairo alone use recycled polymers, which are about 1/2 as expensive. Full integration of the Zabbaleen into the municipal sanitation system will still take another 3-5 years. Improvements also began in Manchiet Nasser in the early 1980s as part of a large, urban upgrading program financed by a World Bank loan. With assistance from the Ford Foundation, Oxfam, and a number of Christian charities, schools and health clinics have opened, and hundreds of workshops are processing waste in Manchiet Nasser. Other Zabbaleen communities have requested similar assistance.

Keywords:

Egypt
Sanitation
Private Sector
Urban Population
Slums
Community Development
International Agencies
Ethnic Groups
Africa, Northern
Africa
Developing Countries
Public Health
Health
Macroeconomic Factors
Economic Factors
Population Characteristics
Demographic Factors
Population
Urbanization
Urban Population Distribution
Population Distribution
Geographic Factors
Social Development
Organizations
Cultural Background