Zabbaleen
The Zabbaleen ( ', ) is a word which literally means "garbage people" in Egyptian Arabic. The contemporary use of the word in Egyptian Arabic is to mean "garbage collectors". In cultural contexts, the word refers to teenagers and adults who have served as Cairo's informal garbage collectors since approximately the 1940s. The Zabbaleen (singular: ', ) are also known as Zarraba (singular: Zarrab), which means "pig-pen operators." The word ' came from the Egyptian Arabic word ' (, ) which means "garbage".
Zabbaleen
There are seven main settlements, in which the Zabbaleen reside in the Greater Cairo Urban Region: Ein El Sira, Moatamdia, El Bargil, Tora, Ezbet el Nakhl, Helwan, and Mokattam. Due to urban expansion, most of these 7 settlements have been moved by municipal authorities to more peripheral locations. The number of Zabbaleen living in these areas total to about 60,000-70,000. Of these settlements, Mokattam, also often known as Garbage City, east of Cairo, is the largest settlement, situated at the foot of Mokattam mountain, with approximately 20,000 inhabitants. The Zabbaleen Settlement of Mokattam was created as a result of a series of evictions from the Imbaba area located in the Giza governorate, notably when the Zabbaleen were given a four-day eviction notice from the governor of Giza in 1970.