Garbage march

0 thoughts on “Garbage march”

1. Well, all my respect to the organizers of this protest, but I think it would be better to stop throwing garbage out of the windows and to pay garbage collection fees to the government which in turn could then pay the garbage companies with that money.

   The one to blame for the garbage situation is the Cairo Cleaning and Beautification Authority, which is an unfair regulator and has made life more then tough for the foreign garbage companies.

   Hossam, do you know what else this comittee is doing?

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2. If there were garbage bins put in every street, and some service that passes every morning to collect it, I don’t think people would continue throwing the garbage out of their windows Fred.
   The situation in Giza has been literally shit over the past three years, even with the useless companies they brought to collect the garbage. Citizens should not pay for a service that does not exist, I ‘m sorry.
   Re your question about the committee, it’s a Kefaya offshoot, and has organized several events before regarding consumer rights issues

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3. Hey Hossam. You should give a little background about the garbage situation in Cairo, the zaballeen, the new companies, and why this is an issue.
   best,
   u.

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4. Hossam, the whole thing is quite a bit more complicated then that. There were garbage bins and service passing every morning – before the zabbaleen (and the population) started to steal the equipment of the foreign companies, and before the responsible authority charged them fines so heavy that they couldn’t maintain their services. I would say because that authority wants to do the business itself. And they are doing it again in parts of Cairo today, after one of the companies surrendered due to the unfair pressure exercised by that authority, press campaigns and sabotage of their material.

   Here is a piece I wrote on the issue a while ago, it gives you some background – although I believe it is a rather toned down version of what really happened to a company such as Enser, for example.

   http://www.amcham-egypt.org/Publications/BusinessMonthly/january%2006/indepth(foreigngarbagefirmsfeelingtrashed).asp

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5. “There were garbage bins and service passing every morning – before the zabbaleen (and the population) started to steal the equipment of the foreign companies,”
   Fred, you don’t descend on a neighborhood first that has a traditional network of Zabaleen, and tell them suddenly, “you are out of work, now we are bringing the foreign experts to deal with the problem… “and then you expect nothing is gonna happen? If such garbage collection projects were also development projects, then those zabaleen should have been integrated in them.
   Secondly I really wanna know about this “equipment” the Zabaleen and the population started stealing from the foreign companies as you say. You mean the pathetic broomsticks that each of the Khawaga-company-appointed zabaleen had which in now way was different from the traditional zabbal? or may be their broken plastic garbage bins in the streets that they put once, and never bothered to substitute the old ones, and renew the broken ones.
   I can tell you, as someone who lived in Nasr City for example that despite paying those electricity bills, I did not witness an improvement in my street or the neighborhood. Moreover, the the foreign companies-appointed zabaleen did nothing but showing up to our doors, asking for tips and money (in addition to what we pay to the electricity company) to collect the street garbage, as their wages ranged between LE100 to LE200 amonth.

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