Cairo’s informal waste collectors: a multi-scale and conflict sensitive perspective on sustainable livelihoods

Abstract: While waste management is a serious problem for many rapidly growing megacities in the global south, inhabitants in Cairo used to benefit from a comparatively well-functioning waste removal system. The Zabbaleen – informal waste collectors – have been collecting household waste since the beginning of the last century. In the 1990s however, this informal waste collection system started to become unable to cope with the rapidly increasing volume of waste generated by Cairo’s inhabitants. Hence, in 2003 the city administration commissioned several European multinationals to take over the waste removal. This decision deprived the Zabbaleen of their previous entitlement to the waste, their main source of income. Based on qualitative interviews conducted in two Zabbaleen settlements in 2006 and 2011, this article explores the long-term consequences of this reform decision. The sustainable livelihood framework is used to evaluate the impact of the reform on the Zabbaleens’ livelihoods. Al.... https://www.erdkunde.uni-bonn.de/article/view/2698

Angaben zum Objekt

• Standort: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Umfang: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Cairo’s informal waste collectors: a multi-scale and conflict sensitive perspective on sustainable livelihoods ; volume:66 ; number:1 ; year:2012 ; Erdkunde ; 66, Heft 1 (2012)

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Urheber: Didero, Maike

Weitere Informationen

• DOI: 10.3112/erdkunde.2012.01.03
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2410281805226.526494976966
• Rechteinformation: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 15.08.2025, 07:21 MESZ