Cairo recycling machines expose tensions over waste
New technology promises cleaner waste collection but raises concerns over livelihoods of longtime informal garbage collectors
CAIRO, Egypt (MNTV) — A new recycling initiative in Cairo has exposed tensions between efforts to modernize waste collection and the informal network of garbage collectors that has handled much of the capital’s rubbish for decades.
Two machines installed in the Dokki district that exchange empty bottles and cans for mobile-phone credit recently drew opposition from the city’s “zabaleen,” a community of mainly Coptic Christian waste collectors who collect refuse from homes and transport it to sorting facilities across Cairo.
The dispute, reported by media, highlighted broader difficulties surrounding waste management in a city of more than 20 million people, where informal collectors have long filled gaps left by government and private-sector systems.
Academic research estimates the zabaleen collect roughly half of Cairo’s waste and recycle about 80% of what they gather.
The machines were developed by ZeroPrime Technologies, founded by entrepreneur Eslam El-Refaey.
The company plans to install as many as 20,000 machines across Egypt by 2030, expanding a system already used in universities, shopping centers, private clubs and gated communities.
Zabaleen Syndicate chief Shehata El-Moqaddas said the community did not oppose the technology itself but objected to being left out of the new collection system.
Following the public dispute, Giza governorate agreed that zabaleen collectors could empty the machines and purchase their recyclable contents from ZeroPrime.
Mohamed Marei, secretary-general and spokesman for the Giza governorate, said authorities were working to resolve the dispute and integrate the collectors into the system.
Cairo has struggled for years to establish a unified waste-management system, with rubbish frequently accumulating in informal dumping areas or being burned, contributing to pollution.
Earlier attempts to reform the sector, including efforts involving foreign companies, also faced resistance and failed to integrate the entire waste chain.
Environmental experts and industry figures say future reforms need to bring consumers, collectors and recycling companies into a coordinated system rather than replacing existing networks.
Former environment minister Laila Iskandar has argued that the zabaleen should be formally incorporated into modernization efforts.
A World Bank-funded facility northeast of Cairo is meanwhile being developed to process as much as 15,000 tons of waste daily, with an emphasis on heavy and hazardous waste.
The zabaleen have been involved in Cairo’s waste trade since migrants from southern Egypt entered the sector in the 1940s. Despite evictions and other disruptions over the decades, their network remains a major component of the capital’s waste and recycling economy.
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