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Cairo’s Contested Garbage: Sustainable Solid Waste Management and the Zabaleen’s Right to the City

Author

Listed:
  • Wael Fahmi

    (Department of Architecture, University of Helwan, 34, Abdel Hamid Lofti Street, Giza, 12311, Egypt)

  • Keith Sutton

    (School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK)

Abstract

Over the decades, the Zabaleen , the traditional waste (garbage) collectors of Cairo, have created what is arguably one of the world’s most efficient and sustainable resource-recovery and waste-recycling systems. Yet the continuation of this intricate relationship between community, environment and livelihood is jeopardized by the official privatization of municipal solid waste (MSW) services through contracts with technology-intensive multinational corporations which threatens the sustainability of the garbage collectors’ communities by removing access to their chief economic asset, waste or garbage. The situation is exacerbated by an official policy of moving the Zabaleen and their MSW sorting, recovery, trading and recycling activities further out of the city, on the grounds that this will turn their neighbourhoods into cleaner and healthier living environments. The consumption of Cairo’s sites of MSW collection and sorting open new socio-political spaces for conflict between multi-national companies and the Zabaleen ’s traditional system. This is further indicated in the way Cairo’s waste materials have been subjected to new claims and conflict, as they are seen as a ‘commodity’ by global capital entrepreneurs and multi-national corporations, and as a source of ‘livelihood’ by the disadvantaged and marginalised Zabaleen population.

Suggested Citation

  • Wael Fahmi & Keith Sutton, 2010. "Cairo’s Contested Garbage: Sustainable Solid Waste Management and the Zabaleen’s Right to the City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(6), pages 1-19, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:2:y:2010:i:6:p:1765-1783:d:8714
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jaligot, Remi & Wilson, David C. & Cheeseman, Christopher R. & Shaker, Berti & Stretz, Joachim, 2016. "Applying value chain analysis to informal sector recycling: A case study of the Zabaleen," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 80-91.
    2. David Simon, 2013. "Climate and environmental change and the potential for greening African cities," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 28(2), pages 203-217, March.
    3. J. Jeffrey Morris & Eric Schniter, 2018. "Black Queen markets: commensalism, dependency, and the evolution of cooperative specialization in human society," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 20(1), pages 69-105, April.
    4. Navarrete-Hernández, Pablo & Navarrete-Hernandez, Nicolas, 2018. "Unleashing waste-pickers potential: supporting recycling cooperatives in Santiago de Chile," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 85730, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Gutberlet, Jutta, 2021. "Grassroots waste picker organizations addressing the UN sustainable development goals," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    6. Heba Allah Essam E. Khalil & Ahmad Al‐Ahwal, 2021. "Reunderstanding Cairo through urban metabolism: Formal versus informal districts resource flow performance in fast urbanizing cities," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 25(1), pages 176-192, February.

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