Slideshow

Urban Mining

The Zabaleen (which roughly translates as "garbage collectors") in Cairo's Moqqatam suburb are said to be the world's greatest waste recyclers.

[ssp|path=magazine/80/multimedia/urban_mining|width=668|height=448]

Moqqatam is one of the most extraordinary and hellish suburbs on earth. It is home to a people known as the Zabaleen, said to be the world’s greatest waste recyclers. The Zabaleen, which means plainly enough, "the garbage collectors," pick up around 4,000 tons of Cairo’s waste each day. American researchers have shown that the Zabaleen recycle 85% of this garbage into something useful: a higher rate than anywhere else on the planet. The men do two shifts leaving about 4 in morning and again around 9. The rubbish is taken back to Moqqatam for the women to sit in and sort through. The organic waste is fed to livestock, the rest sorted for recycling. The future of the Zabaleen is uncertain. If the Cairo authorities get their way, this community of 25,000 Coptic Christians living in a Muslim country will be gone, and with it their unique, astonishing lifestyle.

Support + Share

Help us spread the word. Share it online with your friends or subscribe to the print edition.

Adbusters #80

All Comments

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
April
16, 2009
11:50 am
Link
nice bike — Anonymous
October
29, 2008
12:17 pm
Link

Dear Uncle B,
If we all suffer, then ignoring it when we see it is the most callous one can be.

— Anonymous
October
27, 2008
09:03 am
Link

AGGGGGGGAAAAHHHHHH!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzQOAl4Noyc

— Anonymous
October
27, 2008
05:21 am
Link

Is this in contrast or a parallel to the overwhelming e-waste in Pakistan ?
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/photosvideos/greenpeace-photo-es...

— Anonymous
October
24, 2008
01:44 pm
Link

Hey! They let people mine Uranium in North America, so what is a little poison if you survive? Stop all this phony bleeding heart bullshit, we all suffer, some are downright poisoned, Uranium miners are going to get cancer. All part of life! If you knew how toxic gasoline fumes are, you wouldn't own a car!

— Uncle B
October
29, 2008
01:55 am
Link

I don't. ride a bike.

— Anonymous
October
24, 2008
07:37 am
Link

I think they have spelled "Zabaleen" incorrectly... it's Zabbaleen.

— Anonymous
October
22, 2008
10:01 pm
Link

I have been there many times, and there's so much more to Moqqatam than the fact that they sort trash for a living. Cairo is full of trash, and it's too bad that there's only 25,000 people who care about cleaning it up.

— Anonymous
October
22, 2008
09:43 pm
Link

This is utterly without content, unquestionably positive on a dubious lifestyle, and failed to provide much in the way of unique insight or even basic information on the group, the culture, or why I should have wasted my time reading this.

— I am so wise
October
22, 2008
05:32 pm
Link

Even though it was good it should have been considered a blog. Again i want to ask where is Kalle?

— Anonymous
October
22, 2008
03:08 pm
Link

who are these american researchers? i want to meet them. have they really gone to all the dumps in the world? i live in a dump and i haven't seen any americans. mexicocitytraffic.blogspot.com

— alberto
October
22, 2008
11:18 am
Link

Put the waste in a landfill, recycle it in a facility, and limit the input of toxins and heavy metals... give the people solar-powered carts to haul the rubbish away... hire them as the city's waste managers... but as the above poster notes, pollution and contamination probably lead to health damage in many cases.

Background:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-eu-france-obit-sis...

— Anonymous
October
21, 2008
11:48 pm
Link

I wonder how many of the Zabaleen have elevated lead levels, or what their rate of hepatitis infection is. At the risk of sounding like a cultural relativist, this seems like an extraordinarily unhealthy way to live.

— beatrice

We are a global network of culture jammers and creatives working to change the way information flows, the way corporations wield power, and the way meaning is produced in our society.

Now 83,841 strong!

Join Us >>

TOOLS FOR ACTIVISTS

Rethink the Cool

Rethink the Cool - Blackspot Shoes.

Media Empowerment Kit

High school teachers! Inspire, inform, excite and challenge your students with this multimedia literacy kit.

What's This?

RECENT ADBUSTERS MAGAZINES

SUBSCRIBE BACK ISSUES
Logo Small