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Cairo's rich asked to sort waste at home

The Egyptian state is trying out a new initiative in Cairo’s well-off neighborhood of Heliopolis, whereby kiosks would buy presorted trash from citizens and then sell it to recycling factories.
Men stand in line to sell their garbage at a centre that offers residents money in exchange of their recyclable garbage in an attempt to keep the city streets clean in Cairo, Egypt, March 11, 2017. Picture taken March 11, 2017. REUTERS/Foaad Shokry - RTX314ZC
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CAIRO — Governor of Cairo Atef Abdel Hamid announced March 7 the start of the trial of the first garbage-buying kiosk, which would purchase solid garbage from citizens, including cardboard, plastic and metal waste. On March 11, the kiosk opened in Heliopolis for a trial period of six months before opening in other neighborhoods in Cairo.

The government is testing the feasibility of the project in Heliopolis to see what challenges they might face, before moving to the next phase. As the initiative is still in its infancy, the public response cannot be gauged yet.

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