The Cairo Garbage Calamity - Anders Mikkelsen - Mises Daily

The Cairo Garbage Calamity - Anders Mikkelsen - Mises Daily: "The documentary shows there was a functioning system of garbage collection that had co-evolved with the norms of Egyptian society. The government then stepped in to 'solve the problem.' It forced everyone to pay money to companies using western techniques that hadn't been adapted to the realities of Egyptian society. The companies couldn't cope with the quantity of garbage or managing Egyptian employees. The western-style companies apparently didn't recycle as intensively and couldn't provide low-cost daily garbage pickup like the garbage village system.

The garbage companies and government would also try to persuade people to change their habits to use the bin system that was convenient for companies, but less convenient than the old system. The companies were also unable to figure out how to efficiently collect the garbage that was lying around in easy-to-access piles on the side of the streets.

At the end of the film we learn that the government then killed all the pigs in garbage villages. The pigs were the key component for processing the vast quantities of organic garbage Cairo produces year round. As one would expect, this has vastly increased the amount of rotting garbage on the streets. The situation was so bad that even New York Times articles on the subject are clear that this is an example of government failure."