http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/manshyiat-naser-the-city-of-garbage.html#more-18912 OddityCentral The Manshyiat Naser slum, on the outskirts of Cairo, is often referred to as “The City of Garbage” because of the large quantities of trash shipped here from all over Egypt’s capital city. As unbelievable as the photos below may look, Manshyiat Naser is a real place, where people make their living out of trash. Like in any other normal community, you’ll find streets, houses and apartments throughout the settlement, but everything and everyone here depends on garbage. The inhabitants of Manshyiat Naser (called Zabbaleen) bring the trash into the city, by truck, cart, or any other means necessary, and sort any recyclable or useful waste. Every street and every building in Manshyiat Naser is stacked with mountains of garbage, and you’ll see men, women and children thoroughly digging through them, looking for something they can sell. Although it may seem like an outdated system of handling trash, the Zabbaleen do a far better job than any of the waste handling systems of the modern world. Around 80% of the trash is recycled and resold, while the rest is either fed to the pigs roaming through the city streets, or burned for fuel. The Zabbaleen barely manage to survive on what they make sorting out garbage, but many of them have done it for generations and wouldn’t conceive living their lives otherwise. They dispose of about a third of Cairo’s garbage, at no cost to authorities, and manage to make a decent living for them and their families. The Model of Manshyiat Naser has been copied in various cities around the world, including Manila, Bombay and even Los Angeles. Many photographers have been fascinated by the Zabbaleen way of life and the distinct look of the City of Garbage. As I look at the photos below, I can’t help but wonder: where’s Wall-E when you need him? ===================== http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manshiyat_naser Wikipedia Manshiyat naser, also known as Garbage City, is a slum settlement at the base of Mokattam Hill on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. Its economy revolves around the collection and recycling of the city's garbage. Although the area has streets, shops, and apartments as other areas of the city, it lacks infrastructure and often has no running water, sewage, or electricity. Contents [hide] * 1 Coptic district * 2 Garbage and recycling * 3 See also * 4 References [edit] Coptic district Coptic Christians were originally the predominant inhabitants of Manshiyat naser, though in recent decades the area's Muslim population has grown. The Christians are well known for herding swine within the city, which are fed edible pieces of garbage and marketed across Cairo to Coptic Christian establishments. However in the spring of 2009 the Egyptian government, in response to the worldwide threat of swine flu, embarked on a massive program to cull the herds of swine in Manshiyat naser.[1] The Cave Cathedral or St Sama'ans Church, used by the Coptic Christians in Garbage City, is the largest church in the Middle East, with seating for 15,000 people.[2] [edit] Garbage and recycling The city's garbage is brought to Manshiyat naser by the Zabbaleen, or garbage collectors, who then sort through the garbage to attempt to retrieve any potentially useful or recyclable items. As a passerby walks or drives down the road he will see large rooms stacked with garbage with men, women or children crouching and sorting the garbage into unsellable or sellable. Families typically specialize in a particular type of garbage they sort and sell — one room of children sorting out plastic bottles, while the next of women separating cans from the rest. Anything that can be reused or recycled is saved by one of the numerous families in Manshiyat naser. Various recycled paper and glass products are made and sold from the city, while metal is sold by the kilo to be melted down and reused. Carts pulled by horse or donkey are often stacked 2.5 to 3m (8 to 10 feet) high with the recyclable goods. The economic system in garbage City is classified as the informal sector. Most families typically have worked in the same area and type of specialization in the garbage piles and continue to make enough money to support themselves. --------------------- http://society.ezinemark.com/manshyiat-naser-garbage-city-773663c65023.html EzineMark.com Manshyiat Naser slum, commonly known as the City of Garbage, is located on the outskirts of Cairo. The inhabitants of Manshyiat Naser live on collecting and sorting out trash which is brought to the city by cart or truck. Their main work is to dig through a variety of garbage to retrieve what they can sell, recycle or use. It is estimated that about 80% is recycled and resold while organic waste is either processed into cattle food or burnt for fuel. A lot of families in Manshyiat Naser work as garbage collectors for several generations, so it is hard for them to support themselves by another job. The model of Manshyiat Naser can be seen in may cities throughout the world such as Los Angeles (the U.S.A.), Manila (Philippine) and Bombay (India). Moreover, the way of life in Manshyiat Naser has created great inspiration for many photographers. Read more: http://society.ezinemark.com/manshyiat-naser-garbage-city-773663c65023.html#ixzz1EeoRILrr Under Creative Commons License: Attribution No Derivatives --------------- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zabbaleen Wikipedia The Zabbaleen are a minority religious community of Coptic Christians who have served as Cairo's informal garbage collectors for approximately the past 70 to 80 years. Zabbaleen means "Garbage people" in Egyptian Arabic. The Zabbaleen (singular: Zabbal) are also known as Zarraba (singular: Zarrab), which means "pig-pen operators." Spread out among seven different settlements scattered in the Greater Cairo Urban Region, the Zabbaleen population is between 60,000 and 70,000. The largest settlement is Moqattam Village, more widely known as "Garbage City," which is situated at the foot of the Moqattam Mountains, next to Manshiyat Naser, a Muslim squatter settlement. The Zabbaleen community in Moqattam Village has a population of around 20,000 to 30,000, over 90 percent of which are Coptic Christians. For several generations, the Zabbaleen supported themselves by collecting trash door-to-door from the residents of Cairo for nearly no charge. Notably, the Zabbaleen recycle up to 80 percent of the waste that they collect, whereas most Western garbage collecting companies can only recycle 20 to 25 percent of the waste that they collect.[5][6] 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 Moqattam Village, sort the garbage there, and then sell the sorted garbage to middlemen or create new materials from their recycled garbage. The living situation for the Zabbaleen is poor, especially since they live amongst the trash that they sort in their village and with the pigs to which they feed their organic waste. Nevertheless, the Zabbaleen have formed a strong and tight-knit community. However, their existence and way of life has come under threat after the Cairo municipal authorities’ decision in 2003 to award annual contracts of $50 million to three multinational garbage disposal companies.[7][8][9] The government authorities do not compensate the Zabbaleen for these changes, and as a result, the privatization of waste collection threatens the socio-economic sustainability of the Zabbaleen community.[10] More recently, the Zabbaleen have faced another challenge when the Egyptian Agricultural Ministry ordered the culling of all pigs in April 2009, in response to national fears over the possible spread of H1N1 influenza.[11][12] This governmental decision poses a major setback to the Zabbaleen because pigs are an essential component to their recycling and sorting system, in which the pigs eat all of the organic waste. Immediately after the culling of pigs, observers have noticed a visible increase of trash piles and piles of rotting food on the streets of Cairo.[13] There are also worries that the Egyptian government is seeking to remove the Moqattam Village, also known as "Garbage City" entirely and relocate the Zabbalean further outside of Cairo 25 km away to a 50-feddan plot (1 feddan = 1.038 acres), in Cairo's eastern desert settlement of Katameya.[14][15] ==============