Garbage in Zamalek Streets

The piles of trash overwhelmed the Streets of Zamalek and Cairo in general and spilled into oncoming traffic - egg shells, rotten eggplants, soiled diapers, bottles, broken furniture, junked TV sets.

To all those, add the rising tide of garbage in Cairo, the world’s largest Arab city. Mursi declared it one of his top five priorities, promising to clean up the streets within 100 days. It looks increasingly certain that 100 days weren’t anywhere near enough.

Cairo’s waste management problem began to get acute a decade ago as the capital’s old system, simple but reliable, became swamped by population growth. A government modernization effort flopped. A swine flu panic prompted the mass slaughter of the pigs that recycled Cairo’s organic garbage; the city’s metal trash bins were easy prey for thieves, especially during the global scrap metal boom.

Mursi is wading into a landfill of interwoven problems. Rival collectors vying for the big business of trash fight over turf that used to be parceled out in an orderly way among a fixed number of garbage-collecting clans. Layers of corrupt and inefficient bureaucracy choke the system. As a result, Cairenes end up dumping much of their daily output of 17,000 tons of garbage on the street.

In late July, Mursi launched a “Clean Homeland” campaign, giving free brooms and plastic bags to volunteers from civic groups and the Muslim Brotherhood to which Mursi belongs. They hit several Cairo districts, helped by local authorities, for two days and then turned it into a weekly campaign. They swarm the streets, removing piles of trash. But the garbage quickly returns.

In Zamalek, the Zamalek Guardians took care of garbage collection and recycling among other services. Inspired by Operation Red Nose in Canada, which provides rides for potential drunken drivers during the holiday season, the Zamalek Guardians are an all-volunteer group of Zamalek residents who have banded together to address community issues. Despite of these efforts, garbage can still be seen in different streets in Zamalek.