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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Focus Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Competition over rubbish?
By Mariz TadrosIt is not difficult to believe that as densely populated a city as Cairo produces more than 8,000 tons of rubbish a day. The capital relies on its municipalities as well as its garbage collectors to get rid of the waste. A government plan to establish garbage-recycling facilities nationwide has set many dreaming of a clean environment -- one in which uncollected piles of rubbish reaching skyward disappear, canals are no longer clogged with waste and the air no longer reeks of the smell of burning garbage.
Magdi El-Bassiouni, head of the General Authority for the Cleanliness of Cairo, is optimistic about prospects for a solution to the problems with the setting up of the recycling facilities. He said that between 10 and 12 will be built in the capital alone. "We already have a factory operating in the Al-Salam district and are in the middle of building a LE4 million factory that will turn 50 tons of garbage into compost daily. Three factories are under construction at Al-Qattamiya on an area of 25 feddans that has been allocated for them," he says. Cairo's garbage, he adds, being particularly "rich," provides great potential for the production of high quality compost. "Rather than burying the waste underground as we do now, we will be putting it to profitable use while also cleaning up the streets of Cairo," he says.
However, inhabitants, especially those living in slums and shantytowns, complain more about their municipalities' failure to collect the garbage from their homes and districts than about where the government chooses to dispose of the waste. El-Bassiouni argues that since the facilities will be run by municipalities, this will act as an incentive for them to collect the garbage. He also says that the government is accepting offers from investors and businessmen interested in the establishment of similar facilities.
Mounir Bushra, head of the waste-management programme at the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA), advocates turning garbage into compost. However, he warns that the conceptualised formula of turning garbage into money is too simplistic. He cites examples of recycling facilities that had to be closed down for reasons of inadequate staff training, insufficient maintenance of imported machinery and meagre profits.
"The idea that such factories are a viable investment depends on how you calculate it (the return); if you don't take into account the depreciation value, they are considered profitable, but if you do, they are not. They could generate profit if a tipping fee is introduced, so that the municipality pays these factories for taking in the garbage," said Bushra.
There are also other problems. Sixty per cent of the garbage can be turned into compost, but the remaining 40 per cent cannot. This will be a particularly acute problem when facilities are set up in Upper Egypt. "The level of industrialisation in this part of the country is not very high. Where are they going to find the markets for the recycled products, such as plastic, metal and paper?" he wondered. He also believes that the government's stated intention to build 50 facilities may be exaggerated. "In many contexts, they are simply unnecessary like, for example, in the villages. What is wrong with having garbage collectors and their donkeys work there; do they present an uncivilised image in the countryside too?"
Bushra stresses that the recycling facilities are important because of the need to maintain a clean environment, rather than for making money. And there are trade-offs, he says. For example, the most profitable garbage comes from affluent households. But it is not the higher strata of the population who bear the brunt of the rubbish problem, but those in poor districts, whose garbage nobody bothers to collect. If the recycling facilities are aimed at maximising profits, then they are unlikely to be interested in the garbage of the poor.
Mounir Nawwar, vice-chairman of the board of the Muqattam Garbage Collectors Association, is anxious about the fate of the thousands of men, women and children, whose livelihoods depend on garbage collection, separation and manual recycling. "How are you going to find employment for thousands of people whose only skills are garbage-related?" he asked. According to Nawwar, two groups stand to lose: the garbage collectors and the pig-raisers, the latter of whom carry out manual recycling. These are highly labour-intensive activities in which whole families take part. The zabbalim communities in Muqattam are already threatened with relocation, but having to compete with the government over garbage is something they never imagined.
