A “mafia” of illegal workers and African women control the soda can recycling market here collecting, delivering and selling empty cans destined for recycling companies. This mafia, which can be seen operating in broad daylight and in full view of all residents of the city, make it difficult, if not impossible, for the municipality to introduce a well-organized recycling system, such as that which exists in many countries, with special street bins for the separation of cans, glass, plastic, paper and other materials. Majid Assa'di, director of follow-up committees in the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), said that the mafia consists of illegal expatriates who have become responsible for recycling in Jeddah. The mafia causes crimes, and environmental pollution by burning various materials and as these people are illegal, they are anonymous and there is no information about them,” Assa'di said. The owner of a large can compressing factory in the southeast of Jeddah, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Saudi Gazette that he had signed a contract with the municipality to collect scrap metal, such as copper, steel and iron as well as soda cans from the dump in order to compress them in preparation for recycling. “However,” he said “the Asian laborers of the municipality are among those collecting soda cans and scrap metal from the garbage dump and selling them to the scrap yards. That means there is no benefit for me as a businessman to continue working in this field as my employees go to the dump, but they don't find any cans to be collected.” However, not all parts of the Kingdom are facing the same obstacles in establishing a proper recycling system. Dr. Abdul Basit Sairafy, deputy assistant for sustainable development at the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME), explained that there are some areas in Dammam, Riyadh, Yanbu, and Jubail where the municipality with the cooperation of the private sector or investment companies is doing an excellent job setting up recycling projects. “Only in Jeddah and Makkah do we have some problems because of the people collecting the valuables from the garbage bins and leaving nothing for the recycling companies.” “These illegal workers collect material from the rubbish or garbage bins, valuable things which need to be collected by the recycling companies. Eventually the items they collect, especially the soda cans, end up being sold to the recycling companies. But the illegal workers are working in competition with the companies. We need an awareness program to solve this problem,” he said. However, Dr. Aisha Natto, a businesswoman and a member of the board of the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) said that she preferred not to call this group of illegal workers a mafia since it is organized randomly. “They are just a primitive group guided by someone who manages them and knows exactly how to deal with the companies,” said Natto. Any well-organized recycling project run by the Municipality would be the end of this group, she said. “The solution for Jeddah is establishing a system of organized recycling bins, raising the recycling awareness of the public and then appointing special companies responsible for recycling,” she said. – Noura Al-Mazmomi and Fouzia Khan also contributed to the reportLife cycle of a Jeddah soda canEmpty soda cans may seem unimportant to the average resident of Jeddah, but they can be worth a lot of money. When you throw your empty soda can into the garbage bin in your street, it is just the beginning of a long journey at the end of which that recycled can is back in your hand again. The journey begins when illegal Asian workers or African women rummage through the city's garbage bins poking into the plastic bags of garbage with a long wire crook searching for empty soda cans. The cans are put into large plastic bags which are usually used to store flour. The bags are collected by middlemen with small pickup trucks and taken to scrap yards. The cans are sold to the scrap yards by the kilo depending on the market price. The scrap yards then sell them to companies that compress the cans into metal cubes. The metal is then remanufactured into cans, filled with soda, and delivered to your local supermarket. You visit the supermarket, buy a can of soda, drink it, throw the can into the garbage bin and the cycle begins all over again.
