Design
How Cairo's Trash Problem Becomes Beautiful Fabric
Two designers in the Egyptian capital decided to tackle one of city’s biggest issues: plastic bags.
Cairo’s streets, while known for their charm, are also known for their trash. Though informal garbage collectors called Zabaleen have made their living by gathering and recycling much of the city’s trash since the 1940s, in 2004 then-President Hosni Mubarak sidelined them by hiring multinational corporations to handle waste. It did not go well. Trash piled up more and more, and today, though some Zabaleen are now officially registered to work, garbage is abundant even in Cairo’s upscale areas.
One of the main culprits? Plastic bags. The crinkly sacs are, of course, a problem everywhere. Globally, one million are used each minute—while scientists estimate that they’ll stick around the earth for at least 500 years.