Archive · 10 Sep 2026
Cairo Recycling Machines Expose Conflict Over Informal Waste Collection
Cairo has a very large rubbish problem.
For many years, zabaleen collectors have gone from door to door collecting trash by hand.
They sort much of it and recycle a large share.
Two new machines offered phone credit to people who returned bottles and cans.
The collectors worried that the machines might take away some of their work.
The machines’ creator said he wants to expand them across Egypt.
Officials later said the collectors could help empty and manage the machines.
The disagreement shows that new technology works best when it includes the people already doing the job.
Two bottle- and can-collecting machines in Dokki triggered opposition from Cairo’s zabaleen rubbish collectors.
The zabaleen feared the machines could threaten their livelihoods because they were introduced without integrating them.
Giza governorate said the zabaleen could empty the machines and work with ZeroPrime Technologies.
The zabaleen collect about half of Cairo’s waste and recycle an estimated 80% of what they gather.
The dispute reflects wider difficulties reforming Cairo’s fragmented waste system while preserving informal workers’ role.
- Who
- The zabaleen, ZeroPrime Technologies, Giza governorate officials, and other waste-sector experts were involved.
- What
- A dispute arose over two recycling machines that exchange empty bottles and cans for phone credit.
- When
- The machines appeared in Dokki late the month before the report was published on Sept. 10; the dispute later began to cool.
- Where
- Dokki, in Giza governorate west of downtown Cairo, Egypt.
- Why
- The zabaleen believed the machines could deprive them of work because they had not initially been integrated into the scheme.
Zabaleen Integration
Technology Expansion
Role of informal collectors
Zabaleen Integration
The zabaleen said the machines should include them so that new recycling efforts do not remove their livelihoods or appropriate the waste they process.
Technology Expansion
ZeroPrime Technologies presented the machines as a scalable recycling initiative, with plans for nationwide expansion by 2030.
How to reform waste collection
Zabaleen Integration
Supporters of the zabaleen, including former environment minister Laila Iskandar, argued that reforms should formalize and strengthen the existing collectors rather than replace them.
Technology Expansion
Technology and new facilities could help create a more efficient waste chain involving consumers, collectors, and recyclers, according to industry and environmental officials.
Immediate resolution
Zabaleen Integration
Shehata El-Moqaddas objected that the machines had been introduced without the zabaleen’s participation.
Technology Expansion
Giza governorate said the dispute was being resolved and that it would work on integrating the zabaleen into the machine system.
- Machines
- Two machines were installed in Dokki to exchange empty bottles and cans for phone credit.
- Operator
- The machines were built by ZeroPrime Technologies, founded by entrepreneur Eslam El-Refaey.
- Expansion plan
- El-Refaey plans to deploy 20,000 machines nationwide by 2030.
- Zabaleen collection
- Academic research estimates that the zabaleen collect about half of Cairo’s waste.
- Recycling rate
- The zabaleen are estimated to recycle about 80% of the waste they collect.
- Proposed compromise
- Giza governorate agreed that zabaleen collectors could empty the machines and pay ZeroPrime for their contents.
- New waste facility
- A World Bank-funded facility northeast of Cairo aims to process up to 15,000 tons of waste daily.