Where do the Zabbaleen live?

Cairo
The zabbaleen are a sub-class of poor workers living in the main cities of Egypt. They migrated to Cairo from the Nile Valley in Upper Egypt (the south of the country). Unlike most Egyptians, these peasants were not Muslim, but Coptic Christians belonging to Egypt’s native church.

Why are the people of this city called zabaleen?

Zabaleen is Arabic for Garbage People. Our visit to Cairo in late January 2012 was planned on the invitation of Ezzat Naem Gunn, a leader from a local Egyptian NGO called Spirit of Youth (SOY), run and managed by residents from the Zabbaleen community.

What do the zabbaleen do?

Zabbaleen people collect garbage from Cairo by offering individual waste pickup from one house to another with a small amount of fee. Those garbage are then transported to Manshiyat Nasser using trucks or donkey cart. Upon arrival, the garbage are sorted into two main categories: recyclable and non recyclable.

How many people live in garbage city Cairo?

Manshiyat Nasser, or as it is more popularly known, Garbage City,“ is a slum settlement with a population of around 60,000 on the outskirts of the Moqattam Hills, within Cairo’s sprawling metropolitan area.

How do you recycle in Egypt?

What You Need To Know About Recycling in Egypt

1. Sort your garbage. Put all of our paper, cardboard. aluminium, plastic, glass separate.
2. Flatten down any cardboard boxes.
3. Wash out any plastic or glass bottles.
4. Omit any soiled/tainted packaging or boxes – these cannot be recycled and may taint other recyclables.

Which country has garbage city?

Despite the growing intolerance Copts face in Egypt, they are finding great success in the country’s recycling business.

How polluted is Egypt?

Cairo is the most polluted city in the world, according to the Eco Experts’ report. On average, residents of Cairo breathe in air suffused with 11.7 times the WHO recommended safe level of PM2. 5 and 14.2 times the safe level of PM10. Translation: The air is really bad and you can feel it.

How much plastic waste does Egypt produce?

Egypt produces 5.4 million metric tons of plastic annually, making it the biggest plastic polluter in the Arab world. A 2019 report by the WWF revealed that Egypt also is the biggest source of Mediterranean plastic pollution, pouring in 250,000 tons a year.

What is the population of Zabbaleen?

Spread out among seven different settlements scattered in the Greater Cairo Urban Region, the Zabbaleen population is between 50,000 and 70,000. The largest settlement is Mokattam village, nicknamed “Garbage City,” located at the foot of the Mokattam Mountains, next to Manshiyat Naser.

Where did the Zabbaleen settle in Cairo?

Finally, a large group of Zabbaleen settled under the cliffs of the Mokattam or Moquattam quarries at the eastern edge of the city, which has now grown from a population of 8,000 in the early 1980s, into the largest garbage collector community in Cairo, with approximately 30,000 Zabbaleen inhabitants.

What do the Zabbaleen do with the garbage?

The Zabbaleen use donkey-pulled carts and pick-up trucks to transport the garbage that they collect from the residents of Cairo, transport the garbage to their homes in Mokattam Village, sort the garbage there, and then sell the sorted garbage to middlemen or create new materials from their recycled garbage.

Where is the cave church of the Zabbaleen?

The Cave Church of the Zabbaleen in Cairo. The Monastery of Saint Simon, also known as the Cave Church, is located in the Mokattam mountain in southeastern Cairo, Egypt, in an area that is known as ‘garbage city’ because of the large population of garbage collectors or Zabbaleen that live there.