Upgrading the Waste Sector

Improving Livelihoods of Zabaleen Communities through Organizing, Institutionalizing and Upgrading Traditional Waste Sector in Cairo

March 2010 - September 2014

Funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation under the umbrella organization Hands Along the Nile

Objectives:

To integrate the Zabbaleen into Cairo’s formal waste collection system

To strengthen the capacity of these communities to represent their own interests

To increase the opportunities of these communities to engage in successful recycling business activities

To achieve a citywide implementation of household waste source segregation into organic and non-organic

To relocate recycling businesses to new industrial zones 

Significance: 

This project encompasses six neighborhoods of over 120,000 Zabbaleen, who live and work in the waste business, and will reach approximately 1,000 of these recyclers, over 300 businesses that are willing to move to industrial parks, over 300 informal business that will register, and over 500 family enterprises that are in need of alternate livelihoods after the culling of pigs. Almost 1,000 women and girls will be enrolled in income generating and learning opportunities, 100 members of the Zabbaleen community will receive training in negotiating skills, and 1,000 community members will receive training in financial literacy

Target group:

• Mokattam - collects from downtown, Shoubra, Abbasiyya, Ramsis Square, Abdeen, Rod el Farag and parts of Nasr City and Zamalek

• Ezbet el Nakhl - administratively in the governorate of Qalyoubiyya - collects from   Heliopolis, Zeitoun, Saray el Qubba

• Moetamadeyya - collects from Mohandessiin and Giza; 

• El Baragiil - collects from Zamalek, Dokki, Agouza, Embaba and Mohandaseen;

• Tora - collects from Maadi, Basateen, Dar el salaam and others.

• Helwan, the southernmost neighborhood of Cairo.

Methods:

• Registering and licensing members of the Zabbaleen with the help of professionals that will streamline the formalization process. 

• Providing training for the Zabbaleen in negotiation skills, business management, marketing, product development, registration and licensing, compliance with health, safety and environmental standards. 

• Negotiating with municipalities and multinational companies for new contracts for the Zabbaleen through regular meetings and consultations.

• Raising awareness among the Zabbaleen themselves about the benefits of social engagements through community meetings.

• Establishing a trade organization to represent the Zabbaleen, to serve as a resource on technical and practical elements that pertain to the community’s livelihood, and to provide support mechanisms to the less educated and uninformed.

• Devising and instituting new models and processes for collection and working with authorities to create ordinances for city-wide source segregation

• Implementing public awareness campaigns via various media outlets and guerilla marketing

Project Partners:

The Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI)

The General Authority for Investment (GAFI)

The International Center for Environment and Development

The governorate of Cairo

Other NGOs in the Zabbaleen neighborhoods

Various business associations, consultants, engineers, lawyers, accountants and tax agents