Garbage Dreams
It's a dirty job on the front lines of a massive environmental challenge. But a poor community of trash collectors in Egypt has captured the world's attention for their startlingly efficient, eco-friendly and low-tech methods of recycling. We talk with a documentary filmmaker about the culture of Egypt's "Zabaleen" -- or garbage collectors -- and how their craft is being threatened by modern waste management companies from foreign lands.
Guests
filmmaker
Associate professor in the Government Department, School of Public Affairs at American University. Author of Avenues of Participation: Family, Politics, and Networks in Urban Quarters of Cairo (Princeton University Press), and editor of Cairo Cosmopolitan, and Cairo Contested (American University in Cairo Press).
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Not sure how to ask a question, but per your all for thoughts regarding DC's recycling rates. As a native Oregonian, a state with very high recycling rates, I'm pretty appalled by the recycling here in D.C. No place more than the National Mall. Everyday I run on the mall and see garbage cans overflowing onto the mall grounds, itself a shameful statement about the Capitol's front porch. But most frustrating is that these garbages are overflowing because of multitudes of plastic bottles and cans. Perhaps if we provided recycling cans, right next to each and every garbage can we could start to make a difference. Shouldn't we lead by example? At this point we don't even give folks the option in most of our public spaces. I'm constantly carrying waste home with me to recycle because of lack of facilities, but I doubt few others are as committed.