In the heart of the Egyptian capital Cairo, within the labyrinthine streets of the Manshiyet Nasser district, nearly 120,000 residents process a third of the megacity's waste every day. Long marginalised, these informal recycling specialists are now undergoing a dramatic transformation due to geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, through which polyethylene from the Gulf usually passes.
Faced with a shortage of imported raw materials and a doubling in the price of new plastic, Egyptian factories are now increasingly turning to the backstreets of this Coptic neighbourhood, whose residents sort through and recycle up to 8,000 tonnes of rubbish every day. Up to 90 percent of the plastic waste that arrives in Manshiyet Nasser is given a new lease of life.
