Zabaleen in Cairo via Wikipedia
Egypt is setting a benchmark in the region with the development of its first integrated waste management city in the Middle East, located in the 10th of Ramadan City.
This pioneering project, inaugurated in February, was attended by notable officials including the Minister of Environment, Dr. Yasmin Fouad, the Minister of Local Development, and the governors of Cairo, Qalyubia, and Giza.
10th of Ramadan is a city located in the Sharqia Governorate, Egypt. It is a first-generation new urban community, and one of the most industrialized. It enjoys close proximity to the city of Cairo, and is considered part of Greater Cairo.
It is spearheaded by a 100% Egyptian company, selected from a competitive pool of 33 candidates, and is part of the larger Cairo Air Pollution and Climate Change Management Project funded by the World Bank.
Strategically positioned near key locations, the waste management city is just 7 kilometers from Ismailia, 12 kilometers from Badr City, and 4 kilometers south of the industrial area of the 10th of Ramadan City.
Currently, about 25% of the initial phase has been completed, which focuses on constructing robust infrastructure.
This includes the installation of a 9-kilometer perimeter wall with a tree-lined fence, an extensive irrigation network, two 4-kilometer roads each 60 meters wide with two main gates, and beautifully landscaped areas with palm trees.
The initiative is a crucial element of the government’s effort to manage air pollution and climate change in Greater Cairo, as mandated by Presidential Decree 111 of 2021.
This project is designed to reduce air pollutants and aligns with Egypt’s commitment to enhancing environmental sustainability and urban development.
Pyramids from the plane, Cairo
Zabaleen, or Christian garbage workers handle much of the waste in Cairo but over the years have been forced out of work. They are known as Cairo’s Garbage People.
The Zabaleen (or Zabbaleen) which translates directly from Arab into English as “Garbage People” harvest and hand-sort 15,000 tonnes of waste every day, recycling nearly 80% of that. Although they are responsible for one of the most successful recycling programs throughout the Middle East, this community of roughly 70,000 Coptic Christians face all kinds of discrimination. We recently featured the cave churches that they built despite not being able to own land and construct to build their own churches.
One reader Nesreen El-Solamy points out on a past article of ours on the Zabaleen: “Thank you for pointing out this magnificent church. However, for someone who isn’t familiar with the country, your article passes an impression that christians in Egypt are treated as outcasts.
“The wealthiest and most successful families in Egypt are Christian, and all Christians live side by side with Muslims. Unfortunately, the garbage collectors are looked down upon and built there own living areas. Because of their job not religious belief. Historically, as you said, mostly Christians accepted that job on account of raising pigs on organic waste. Nowadays, it has become common for all, as it turned to be a very profitable field of work.”
Cairo, we know, is not as tolerant as some people would like to portray. Cairo contains a number of synagogues, though only a handful of Jews remain. As of December 2022, there were 12 remaining synagogues but only 3 native Egyptian Jewish inhabitants in the city down drastically from a population of 80,000 Jews in 1948.
During the Egyptian riots in 2011, the Muslim Brotherhood attempted to kill young Christian demonstrators. Our Muslim friend in Canada, working there in the media managed to save 17 people from certain death. Our Bahai/gay friend in Cairo told us in personal communication that he was imprisoned and nearly beaten to death for not conforming to local Islamic laws.
