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Egypt's Garbage Crisis
(Washington Post) Ernesto Londono - Garbage in Cairo has traditionally been collected by the Zabbaleen, Coptic Christians who for decades made the city's waste their livelihood. After sorting organic waste from glass and plastic, the trash collectors sold the recyclable goods to national and international companies. Pigs, once omnipresent in predominantly Christian neighborhoods, would eat the rest. When the animals were fat, they were sent to slaughterhouses that catered to hotels. In the spring of 2009, alarmed by the outbreak of swine flu in Mexico, Egyptian authorities ordered the immediate slaughter of all pigs in the country. But since the health code outlawed the practice of owning pigs that feed on garbage, the trash has been stacking up. After the revolution, Christian trash collectors asked the Health Ministry to lift the pig ban. So far, it has not.