By Kate R.
Posted on June 16, 2009. Listed in:
Garbage Dreams is screening in theaters across the States between March and August 2009. This film took four years to make and centers on the lives of three teenage boys from Mokattam in Cairo. Mokattam is the world’s largest garbage village, home to 60,000 Zaballeen (Garbage people). The Zaballeen have been Cairo’s caretakers of waste for centuries and are the amongst the world’s most prodigious recyclers. 80% of the waste dumped in their village is reused in some way, making it one of the world’s most efficient waste disposal systems.
Cairo’s residents have depended on the Zaballeen to collect their waste, paying them a minimal amount for this service. Recycling the products discarded by others has ensured that the Zaballeen survive. However, in 2003 Cairo’s officials hired three foreign waste management companies to oversee the garbage problem in the city.
They didn’t recognize the amazing achievements of the Zaballeen people as master recyclers, instead following the global trend of hiring large corporate companies to manage waste. As a result, the people of Mokattam have slowly been losing their livelihood.
Director Mai Iskander, an Egyptian American, was compelled to make this documentary after meeting friendly locals and learning of their plight in 2005. Essentially Garbage Dreams is a story about three boys (Adham, Osama and Nabil) growing up in the trash trade, feeling their way through adolescence and ultimately planning their future as the garbage industry evolves around them.
Garbage Dreams is a moving film and has won numerous awards, including the Al Gore Reel Current Award as it showed great insight into a global environmental issue.
Sadly,one of the world's most successful recycling systems could be lost, if the Zaballeen are squeezed out of their waste management role in Cairo.
If you are interested in learning more about this film, you can visit their official site,
or check out the interview with the film's director:
Other cool stuff on Celsias:
Recycling and the Key to Overcoming Industrial Legacy.
Can California Recycling Programs Survive the Recession?
Delhi Plastic Bag Ban Survives, Despite Obstacles.
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