Solid Waste Pollution in

Cairo
Jude AlSayed & Hana Kouta

Photography Foundations I - JRMC 2230

Secondary Research
The city produces more than 15,000 tons of solid waste every day which is putting tremendous
strain on citys infrastructure.
Around 60 percent of the solid waste is managed by formal as well as informal waste collection,
disposal or recycling operations while the rest is thrown on city streets or at illegal dumpsites.
Waste management is causing serious ecological and public health problems in Cairo.
For example, disposal of solid waste in water bodies has lead to contamination of water supplies in
several parts of the city.
The Zabbaleen, traditional waste collectors of Cairo, have been responsible for creating one of the
worlds most efficient and sustainable resource-recovery and waste-recycling systems.
 What The Zabbaleen do:
1. Collect waste from streets and households using donkey carts and pickup trucks.
2. Sort waste and transform into useful products like quilts, rugs, paper, livestock food, compost,
recycled plastic products etc..
3. Lastly, after removing recyclable and organic materials, the segregated waste is passed onto
various enterprises owned by Zabbaleen families.
The Zabbaleen collect around 60 percent of the total solid waste generated in Cairo and recycle
up to 80 percent of the collected waste which is much higher than recycling efficiencies observed
in the Western
Primary Research
CISV
Sustainable Development themed program
International Peoples Project
Beneficial projects for the environment and community
4 different countries work together
Examples: combating environmental degradation, support for immigrants or an arts-based
regeneration scheme.
Interview with Laila El-Gamal, one of the participants in the program.
Recycling
Sell Your Garbage kiosks
Place we will be shooting at
Between the Citadel and Maadi. Along Autostrad road.
Photographs we captured
References
Al Ahram Weekly. (2017). Egypts garbage problem. [online] Available at:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/14892.aspx [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].
Ape.org.eg. (2017). A.P.E. | Cairo,Egypt. [online] Available at:
http://www.ape.org.eg/TheZabbaleenHistory.html# [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].
Your Middle East. (2017). Turning waste into wealth with Cairo's garbage people (PHOTOS). [online]
Available at:
http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/culture/turning-waste-into-wealth-with-cairos-garbage-people-photos
_31874 [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].
Zafar, S. (2017). Waste Management in Cairo | | EcoMENA. [online] Ecomena.org. Available at:
https://www.ecomena.org/tag/waste-management-in-cairo/ [Accessed 14 Oct. 2017].