Vermiculture in Egypt: - FAO - Regional Office for the Near East and

5.3.1. Urban waste vermicomposting
Home composting is a tradition in many countries, and is recommended as an
important waste management option in the European Union policy. Advantages are
that the waste does not have to be transported and that home gardens are provided
with nutrients and humus. Furthermore, it has an educational importance in improving
environmental awareness. Limiting conditions to its adoption are the availability of
space for composting and compost application, and the lack of knowledge as to the
correct composting procedure. This includes the selection of substrates that are
suitable for home composting and the provision of suitable process conditions.
In a city like Cairo, there is a possibility of producing vermicompost from individual
houses. Having the suitable amount of earthworms in a double basket system with a
perforated one inside, organic wastes could be vermicomposted without any odors or
side annoyance. Although the system is not widely established, but with the proper
awareness and public support could be implemented. This could both create an
income to the poor families, and produce considerable amount of vermicompost that
goes directly to agricultural activities. In addition, it has the following advantages:
Saves money and the environment
It reduces household garbage disposal costs;
It produces less odor and attracts fewer pests than putting food wastes into a
garbage container;
It saves the water and electricity that kitchen sink garbage disposal units
consume;
It produces a free, high-quality soil amendment (compost);
It requires little space, labor, or maintenance;
It spawns free worms for fishing.
Several options for integrating the Zabbaleen into the international companies‟
contracts were explored during interviews with staff members at CID, raising the
issue of local-global confrontation and the possible contribution of a private–public
partnership. The Zabbaleen could act as sub-contractors, as they implement a
“segregation system”, separating organic from non-organic waste. They could
continue to collect household waste while medical and industrial waste and landfill
management could be handled by multinational companies. Transfer stations could be
established where a major proportion of non-organic waste could be recovered and
directed to existing traders. The Zabbaleen could receive inorganic waste from
companies as input to their recycling businesses, as small communitybased
composting facilities are established. In such ways the traditional informal Zabbaleen
system could be integrated into the new privatized large-scale waste collection system
to the mutual benefit of both sides. Despite such suggestions, recent developments
have demonstrated the unlikelihood of fruitful local–global partnerships. Instead,
international companies favour training the Zabbaleen as waged employees, while
allowing them to search landfill sites for organic waste for their pig-rearing activities
(Fahmi, 2005).
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