“Garbage Dreams” is January's Community Cinema film in the Grand Valley and will be shown at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12, at the Mesa County Central Library, and in Fruita at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 27, at Dinosaur Journey Museum

Alpine Bank, a local leader in recycling efforts, sponsors “Garbage Dreams” at Grand Junction Community Cinema. Following the one-hour film in Grand Junction, local recyclers will share their thoughts about the film and provide information about recycling efforts on the Western Slope. Community Cinema is free, it expands your world, and it's fun!

About the film

“Garbage Dreams” follows three teenage boys who were born into the trash trade in Mokattam, the largest “garbage village” on the outskirts of Cairo. Mokattam is the home of the Zaballeen or “garbage collectors.” In Arabic, the word literally translates to “garbage people.”

Cairo has no official waste collection system, and for decades the Zaballeen have provided this essential service, bringing the trash they collect to their communities, where it is then sorted. Paid only a minimal amount by residents for their garbage collection services, the Zaballeen survive by recycling what they collect. They have transformed their Mokattam neighborhood into a busy recycling and trading enclave, where plastic granulators, cloth-grinders, and paper and cardboard compactors hum constantly.

“Garbage Dreams” describes the Zaballeen way of life, one that is characterized by strong community cohesiveness. In the village, everyone works in garbage and people are like one big family who know and understand each other. Here is where Adham, 17, Nabil, 18, and Osama, 16, form their identities and their dreams for the future. In addition to having an apartment, getting married, and finding long-term companionship and respect, the young men would like to continue in the Zaballeen tradition of collecting and recycling trash. But the arrival of foreign private companies to do that work has undermined their dreams.

In an attempt to clean up Cairo city, Egypt awarded contracts to three foreign companies, one from Spain and two from Italy, to collect Cairo's garbage and dispose of it in landfills. They are required to recycle only 20 percent of the trash, compared to the 80 percent recycling rate of the Zaballeen.

About informal recycling

In developed countries, most recycling activities are carried out by government entities, usually municipalities. In the developing world, however, recycling is largely done informally, by individuals or groups such as the Zaballeen in Egypt. The World Bank estimates that about 1 percent of the urban population in developing countries survives by reclaiming waste.

These “waste pickers,” or waste collectors, employ different methods in different places. Some salvage materials from Dumpsters or trash containers on the street; some recover materials from waterways, open dumps or landfills; and some go door-to-door, purchasing all sorts of refuse from residents.

While these waste collectors are marginalized by their societies, they nonetheless perform a valuable service, both environmentally and economically. The work they do provides an income to unemployed individuals, supplies raw materials to industry, and reduces the need to use virgin resources. A growing number of cities in Africa, Asia, and South America are recognizing the importance of this work and encouraging the development of waste reclaiming enterprises and public-private partnerships to provide low-cost waste management.