Demands for return of Cairo kiosks purchasing solid waste from citizens

CAIRO – 30 April 2022: In 2017, the Cairo Governorate announced the establishment of a number of outlets for the purchase of solid waste from citizens, in a step to confront the phenomenon of scavengers and also encourage citizens to separate garbage from the source.

This move aimed at improving behavior and preserving the environment, where the governorate allocated spots at streets for these outlets for 600 pounds every 6 months, and then gradually inaugurated 26 outlets, and everyone praised the idea.

However, the number of these kiosks diminished due to different problems faced its owners.

Problems soon emerged and the owners of the kiosks faced a lot of trouble, the first of which was complaints and harassment of workers in the field of waste and scrap collection, then the rent was raised to 2000 pounds per month instead of 6 months, which is a double rent for the grocery kiosk currently, and given the novelty of the idea, the turnout was not enough to provide income for the kiosk to be able to pay the monthly rent, especially in popular areas.

Another problem is the development work that most of the streets witnessed, such as the expansion of streets or the construction of several bridges, which affected the location of the kiosk, especially since the kiosk has a large area on the bench of the grocery kiosk, which led to the removal of a large number of outlets located in the path of development work.

Out of the 26 outlets, a small number of them only remained, that do not exceed 4 outlets. Many owners are now demanding the return of the kiosks under the governroates’ supervision.

Some contractors opened shops to buy scrap and solid waste from citizens near the waste purchase outlets at higher prices, to tighten the screws on the owners of the outlets, which is confirmed by Eid Hussein, who owned an outlet in Al-Matareya neighborhood, saying: “There are scrap dealers who opened shops to trade in solid waste and scrap near the outlet, and buys at prices higher than the prices set by the governorate earlier, in addition to doubling the fees from 600 pounds to one thousand pounds per month and then two thousand per month, which many failed to do, especially the owners of kiosks located in popular areas.”

Amr El Fasakhani, one of the young men participating in the experiment, says that he had an outlet in Al-Masala Square, and it was removed due to development work, noting that in the recent period he had accumulated debts, and the value of the monthly rent, which made it difficult for him to return to the kiosk in another place.

In this context, Hamdi Mahdi closed its outlet on Abdullah Al-Arabi Street in the Seventh District due to the development of the street, while its other outlet is still operating in Al-Saba Street in Heliopolis.

Shubra Misr outlet in Khalfawy Square and Alf Maskan outlet, embassies in Nasr City in front of the Investment Authority, and many others were also closed.