1. Update Illegal Airport Dump - An End and Still No End!

In January Clean Sharm could report that Nasset Tamen, the company which opened the illegal dump with airport garbage in the desert, was sentenced to vacate and clean the area.
In February Clean Sharm went to check - and was shocked:
Although the piles of garbage were no longer there, the area was far from clean. It looks as if bulldozers had just flattened the garbage and covered it up with sand. In some areas big black spots, ashes and melted plastic proof that part of the garbage was burned , which is another offense of the law. We are about to bring this situation to the attention of the mayor, and as far as Clean Sharm is concerned, this company deserves another huge fine! And they should be forced to really CLEAN the place from all garbage, we think…..

This is "bringing it back to original state"?	Isn't garbage burning illegal?	A bad Cover Up....

Men at work.... 2. The Official "Sanitary" Landfill in 'Khanzur': Still No Happy End in Sight Although Clean Sharm was informed that the sorting and composting plant would be operating by the first month of this year, also here we cannot report of much progress, unfortunately. The infrastructure seems to be ready, but there are no signs of workers, machinery or any equipment, which look as if the work could start any time soon. There is no sign of any dump site management, but just uncontrolled growth surrounding the new plant. The compost plant to be.... Unfortunately the garbage of our city is still sorted manually under extremely unhealthy conditions by poor Bedouin, who live right next to the garbage, while goats and sheep are eating their way through plastic bags and all kinds of rubbish. After this visit we will restrain from lamp chops for quite a while…   Although mayor, governor and SES always assured us that garbage burning does NOT take place in Khanzur , our pictures prove otherwise: fires were burning everywhere. An open and wide to be seen affront against the law at an official, legal and “controlled” sanitary landfill?! How can that be? The brown dots are "grazing" sheep, the grey dot up left a human being....!   No buring of garbage in Sharm????T And how can one use the word “Sanitaty” for this Landfill? Clean Sharm has started to contact the authorities and SES to find out what is really happing here, and we will keep you informed! 3. New Dumping in Aida Area! In June 2009 Clean Sharm received a phone call from concerned residents that SES was dumping trash in Aida area, just over the cliff in the backyard of the residential villas and literally on top of Kennedy Mall with its supermarkets, clinics and even a hospital. Our complains to the Governor however did not bring the anticipated results. While SES did stop indeed their local "plastic recycling", orange trucks took over the vacancies and dumped construction waste over the cliff. The relentless efforts of one active Sharmer and her Facebook initiative "South Sinai - Sharm's Deserts" managed to stop that, the mayor officially promised that there will be no more dumping in Aida. Hence we were totally surprised today , when we got a phone call in the afternoon that orange trucks are unloading construction waste right next to the City Council Street, in front of the Water Plant! How can that be??? Or will they built something on top of it, is it indeed part of the plan to make Sharm more beautiful and green? Would be nice, but after the dumping of the last months just a few meters away, difficult to belive. We will make inquiries at the official instances and keep informed. Sharm Goes Green?????   The offenders are not hiding 4. Sharm El Sheikh Carbon Neutral by 2020! An article by Dina Zayed found on the Vancouver Sun web (click HERE) reported that a 238 million dollar project was lounged to make Sharm Carbon Neutral by 2020. While Clean Sharm would very much welcome and support any efforts in that direction, we would like to first see progress in the waste management situation! We would love to see the ban on plastic bags implemented! We all have to protect the environment, starting today!

1. We follow it until the end - more on the illegal "Airport" dump

On January 5, 2010 Clean Sharm went back to monitor the illegal airport dump that was discovered last November in a beautiful area within the St.Katherine national park. This time some workers were on side who assured us that they are sorting the garbage now and that all will be removed in the next few days.
Indeed part of the garbage was sorted and it was not clear if more garbage had been brought in. The workers denied this, but some food items looked as if they had been dumped there recently.

Clean Sharm has just learned that the company Nasset Tammam from Dahab has been fined 50,000 LE by the Mayor for illegally dumping the airport waste in this location! The company was summoned to immediately remove all garbage and bring the place back to its original state.

This news encourages Clean Sharm to report on other violations against the environmental law in its newsletter.

2. Legal, but still not clean... Update on Khanzur dump

3. Clean Up January 9, 2010, Dahab Mall, Hadaba

For the 11th Clean Up, the first in 2010, only a few new residents joined the regular Clean Sharm team in Hadaba. As usual mainly foreign women and some of their children who participated, as they agree that it is useful to set an example and to continue to draw attention to the need for proper garbage disposal.
But where are the Sharm men?!

As always SES supported us with the truck and their team, headed by the helpful Essam. The area left of the mall and behind it was cleaned, while Clean Sharm volunteers talked to the shopkeepers and passersby to urge them to place garbage bins and use them!
Next to Pioneer Property an empty shop was discovered filled with garbage. Also the micro bus stop in front of the gas station was full of disposable food containers and plastic bags, forks and spoons while garbage bins are far to be seen. Again here managers from the gas station and the surrounding shops were kindly requested to provide garbage bins to keep this area garbage free. Finally all volunteers gathered for the group picture at Makani, who kindly sponsored the Clean Sharm T-shirts and caps.

		In the mall next to Pioneer Property shop. The poor guys want to sell Real Estate in Sharm, while their landlord, the mall owner, uses the building as a rubbish d

This month`s Clean Up was sponsored by WTS, ILCC and Compu Sharm, which covered the water, gloves and the kosheiry at the end, which was much appreciated by the SES team and the kids! A big thank you to all sponsors and participants!

Next Clean Up: Saturday, 13 February 2010 at 10 am, AIDA area

1. Happy SINAI News for the New Year - Power Plant for Nuweiba Blocked!

We received very good news on the first day of the new year: the plans for the power station in Nuweiba are blocked!
Read here, from the HEPCA Newsflash send on 1.1.10:

"New Year victory for the people of Nuweiba

The people of Nuweiba have an additional reason to celebrate this New Year with the announcement today that the power station planned for the South Sinai region has been blocked.
The European Investment Bank has declined a $320 million loan to finance the project amidst considerable pressure from environmental campaigners, investors and other stakeholders to properly consider the impact of its implementation on the local community, environment and tourism in the region.
Campaigners were shocked that the Egyptian Government appeared to be disregarding points from the 1994 Law for the Environment and that once again, the prospect of economic gain had seemingly overshadowed any environmental or social concerns.
On understanding that an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment, which is required by the Ministry of Environment for any project approval and permits) was not issued by the project managers, a group of experts were commissioned on behalf of HEPCA and other campaigners to comprehensively assess the situation and present a report to the parties involved. We also aggressively lobbied for a public hearing (also a legal requirement) in order to assess the consent of the local community and other stakeholder groups.
We would like to thank the people and communities of Nuweiba, and all those who actively added their voice to this campaign and successfully achieved the obstruction of this project.
The Ministry of Electricity and Energy is now believed to be looking at an alternative site to Nuweiba. Environmental campaigners will be watching closely to see what is proposed in the future."

Well done!!!!!

2. Update: illegal "Airport" dump

In November Clean Sharm discovered an illegal dump site in the desert within the boundaries of the St. Catherine National Park. The place was full of garbage from the airport – ironically the place where most the tourists arrive who come for our unique landscape! Now their trash is insulting their eyes and of those who live in Sinai.
Although the company responsible for the illegal (and cheap) disposal certainly dumped at a place well hidden from the street, the rubbish is not hidden anymore: Part of it falls off from their primitive trucks already during the way out (watch out for blue "air plane dinner trays": they are littering the way to Dahab everywhere on the first 14km after the checkpoint!). Then garbage bags are ripped open while unloading and later by poor Bedouin who look for re-usable items and animals who look for food (not to mention the millions of flies which feed on the catering leftovers..) From there the wind takes over the distribution...

Since our first visit, shortly after the dumping started there, and the second visit around 4 weeks later, the surrounding desert already suffered greatly - plastic bags, trays and other stuff is hanging in shrubs and trees and littering the ground. The heaps of garbage did become smaller, although it is difficult to find out if that is due to "recycling" and normal shrinkage caused by decay, or whether they started to remove the trash as requested by law Clean Sharm is planning to go out to the official garbage dumb, and check up on the bigger surroundings to make pictures of the situation and to get official statements about it. We will send a report about it ASAP, check our website or look out for the next newsletter.

3. Clean Sharm: by Sharmers for Sharmers

Although most of the feedback we receive is really positive and supportive, it is not clear for some people what Clean Sharm is about.
Clean Sharm started 10 months ago by a small group of volunteers who dedicate their time to preserve this special part of the world. Although it is our dream and goal, we can unfortunately not turn this area back to its pristine beauty overnight. The problems of garbage in Sinai are many and they are complicated with many stakeholders involved (e.g. Bedouin who still are allowed to collect garbage and used to make a good living out of it, SES who has been officially contracted by the government to collect and process the garbage and to upgrade and manage the official sanitary landfill (Khanazier) , tourist companies, hotels, workers, residents.) The Mayor and the Governor carry the legal responsibility, but unfortunately there is no environmental police in South Sinai, which makes it very difficult to enforce the strict environmental law in Egypt.
We are still working out the most effective way to run Clean Sharm, but we have already three different active groups working on different levels for much needed action against the spreading garbage:
The core group works behind the scenes to develop the best strategy to address the severe problems. This group brings the problems and possible solutions under the attention of the authorities. They have established contacts with the Mayor of Sharm El Sheikh and the Governor of South Sinai, as well as with the garbage collection company SES and SSDM.
The Clean Up group is our most visible arm, with monthly Clean Ups covering every time another location in the wider Sharm El Sheikh area. Although most Clean Ups are very effective, their main aim is to educate the residents on the need to keep also the outside area clean.
At the same time the EDU group is developing campaigns and materials to education the people in Sharm, on how to properly deal with garbage and protect the environment.
If you have good ideas, comments or suggestions, come and meet us on the next Clean Up, where you will always find some of the Clean Sharm organizers/volunteers to discuss and plan what we can do to bring the Charm back to Sharm! Of course, to turn a good idea in an effective action we also need people who are willing to give their time and energy to make it happen. Please get in touch with us (info@cleansharm.org) if you are willing to take up the challenge!

4. Last 2009 Clean Up in Roesaat, 12.12.09

This month Clean Sharm was back in Roesaat for the third time this year for the 10th Clean Sharm Clean Up! Several old and also some new volunteers joined to help, including some local Bedouin men, women and children. El Meharwil Garbage Management Company supported us for the first time, and as always we could count on SES who participated with a big group of their staff and the garbage trucks. Also the city council representative of Roesaat was present and supported our action. The surroundings of the coffee shop in the back of old entrance three were cleaned quickly, after which the Clean Sharm team found an illegal dump within the residential area of Roesaat! There garbage is sliding into the wadi, well visible from the high way coming from the Dahab checkpoint. The city council representative had already summoned the owners or organizers of this dump to remove everything and was very upset to find the garbage still there. He pressed them to immediately bring a car and set part of the garbage on fire himself. Obviously, this is not a solution that Clean Sharm supports! Burning of (unsorted!) garbage releases toxic gases and particles which are a threat to human health.

This clean up was once again generously sponsored by WTS (Water Technology Services), thanks a lot, and Compusharm & ILCC! Special thanks to Makani Bakery who kindly sponsored the new Clean Sharm T-Shirts and caps that were used for the first time. Another big thanks goes to SES and the El Meharwil and the Soliman Marhawil Garbage Management Companies and all the other volunteers who joined Clean Sharm to make this Clean Up a success!

5. Next Clean Up: Saturday, 9 January 2010 at 11 am in front of the Dahab Mall, Hadaba

Clean Sharm wishes you a Clean and Happy New Year!

 

Clean Sharm News.................. Update NOVEMBER 09 DIRTY NEWS - ILLEGAL DUMP IN THE NATIONAL PARK! An illegal dump site was discovered within the boundaries of the St. Catherine National Park, in an exceptional beautiful enclosure close to the Dahab road. What makes that even worse: These tons of garbage come exclusively from the airport! The Government set up strict environmental laws, which forbid illegal dumping and special laws to protect the National Parks. And a garbage disposal company working for a governmental institution is dumping wild, just to get it done cheap? That cannot be true… Unfortunately it is, as these pictures proof. The whole ‘raison d'être’ of the airport is the tourism, and tourists come because of our precious and unique environment. Spoiling it means destroying the source of income of nearly everybody in South Sinai. That whole pile consists mainly of catering leftovers: 1000nds of empty plastic trays and food leftovers.... Egypt air check in forms.... While Clean Sharm members, called to the scene by a phone call from a Bedouin, made photos from the dump, a truck from the "Nasr Tamam Company" came and unloaded more trash. That was actually good luck, as we got a license number and thus a solid proof,. Plus the kind of garbage proofs 100% that it comes from the airport, as one can easily see… This is an intentional criminal act by the company responsible for the dumping, and we can only hope that it gets treated as that! New trashed arrived.... .... Easy to follow up.... We called General Ahmed Saleh, Sharm’s mayor with these news and he asked us immediately to come and bring the photos as much needed proof. He said that he already had suspicions about that company, but that he was until now not able to proof that they violate the law. Get a gift.... Yeah, thanks a lot for that! That's how this beautiful place looks now (500 m to the left starts the new dump, which will soon spread thanks to wind and animals...) Coming from Sharm, 14km behind the check point, a barrel marks the entry to the dump site Even kilometers before the dump, airport trash is littering the desert, fallen off the simple trucks, which are not at all equipped to transport garbage.... Now that there is proof (General Ahmed got a CD with many more pictures) we hope that this company will be heavily fined, the dump cleaned, and that the airport employ from now legal and proper operating companies. However - Trust, but verify.....: We will follow up on this, watch this space…. Or go and check yourself: Coming from Sharm, exacty 14km behind the check point, you will find a barrel at the left side of the street, marking an offroad track (easy to drive on with every car). Follow this track, always keeping to the left, when the track splits, and after app. 500m you will reach the dump site..... NOVEMBER CLEAN UP in HAY EL NOUR This month’s Clean Up was a frustrating one – just few residents joined, and without the help of the hotel groups (JAZ Hotels, Resorts & Crusies) and SES we could not have done anything at all. And it was shocking to see how dirty Hay el Nour is! Although this is a purely residential compound with many well tended houses, there was rubbish literally everywhere. As big parts are not even paved, and with overflowing sewers and badly tended shop-backsides, the district would have needed hundreds of volunteers for this Clean Up.... However, we trust that we are more again next month, when we will clean the streets again, in another part of Sharm. Watch this site for details! And not to forget: Big thanks to our sponsor WTS for their substantial contribution, which allowed us to provide mineral water during, and Koushari after the action for our hardworking helpers! All is not gold that glitters... There was a big and really lovely, well tended, super-clean looking house from the front, which was just a shame from the back: They had made a ramp for a wheelbarrow, to dump construction and normal garbage just behind their wall on the public square!!! Unbelievable... (But to make it easy for an official complain they even advertised the place with a big sign in the front: "Villa Gabriella Maria", owned or managed by "Sun International FOR TOURISM". For tourism, yeah, thanks........ that is what a friend of mine calls "shitting on one's own plate...

 

Clean Sharm News.................. Update 20.10.2009

A new face @ SES
CLEAN SHARM met with the new SES manager, an important figure in Sharm's struggle with the ever-expanding amount of garbage:
Mr. Ahmed Boghdady knows Sharm since many years and was involved early as a technical advisor for building utilization and recycling. It was him, who made the first outline of how a garbage company can work in Sharm el Sheikh, and he was responsible that the garbage burning in Hay el Nour stopped about 10 years ago.
He is very concerned about the area and its garbage problems and working full force to get SES resources and the new recycling plant working effective and properly.

SES - facts
Sharm Ecological Services, our "pink garbage company" belongs to the government (20%) and to private investors ( 80%).
At this point the company has app. 300 employees, 15 of them working in the office, the rest on the rubbish frontline. 20 compactor trucks, each equipped with 4 people are working two shifts a day to collect the garbage twice a day in all areas, i.e. the cars do a 16 hours service.

RECYCLING and dumping 2010
Currently, all garbage collected in Sharm is dumped in Chanasir, a place in the desert behind the checkpoint on the road to Dahab.
A new garbage & recycling plant with land-fill is already under construction there, and should start t to work in the beginning of 2010.

Important for all Sharmers: Disposal of garbage or construction waste at any other place is forbidden and you should report offenders!

If you are interested in more details about how this plant should work, write us a short note!

Collecting points
At some places it is hard to believe that bins are emptied twice a day, as the containers are overflowing and the areas around them literally covered with rubbish.

 

CLEAN UP
That all sounds good and promising, however we - the Sharmers - may not lean back and wait for others to solve the problem. Even with working in two shifts the current body of SES is obviously not enough to have all areas in Sharm clean as Naama Bay. Our regular Clean Ups are more important than ever, to keep the attention up, to raise the awareness of the many people in Sharm, who still regard a dirty surrounding as normal state of life, and last but not least to help SES in their efforts.

OCTOBER CLEAN UP in HADABA
Therefore on the 10th of October many Sharmers took once again things in their hand - literally- and cleaned up the area around the Ghazia Mall in Hadaba, aided as always by SES workers.
Again Hotels - Jaz Hotels, Resorts & Cruises, Tropicana and Grand Azure Hotels - were very supportive and send groups of employees to help, a great idea!
It was nice to see so many Egyptian and foreign residents helping, even with children, and thanks to big and smaller helpers at least some streets looked better for a little while. Thanks a lot also to everybody who sponsored this event: Sinai Divers, Tavern Bar, Sharm Business Magazine!