Jordan + 1 more
Life Under Lockdown: Part IV - Keeping Za’atari Refugee Camp Clean despite Covid-19
"Families are now told to keep their separated recyclables outside their doors to avoid contact with the trolley workers who pick them up,” says Ali, a Syrian Refugee who manages a team of paid volunteers at Oxfam’s one-of-a-kind recycling facility at Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan.
“Even when the trolley workers return to the facility after collection, we now make sure they enter one at a time, wash their carts before entering, refrain from sorting the recyclables right away, clean and sanitize all the machines daily and follow strict hygiene procedures upon entering and departing from the facility.”
Jordan is entering its sixth week of curfew as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and like many countries around the world, has permitted sectors of essential services to continue operating.
From the outset of the country’s lockdown measures, Oxfam did everything possible to ensure that litter collection and recycling at the refugee camp was deemed essential. In turn, this allowed Oxfam to secure curfew exemption permits for four staff to continue waste collection and recycling operations.
“Imagine what would happen if we stopped working or if the garbage trucks stopped collecting waste from the garbage bins,” Ali asks. “It would be a complete and utter disaster.”
It’s estimated that Jordan produces over two million tons of waste every year. Less than ten percent of it is recycled.
Oxfam’s two sorting facilities at Za’atari Refugee Camp were born out of a successful 2015 pilot project that upon completion, witnessed a 20% reduction of solid waste in landfills solely by recycling cardboard, metal and plastic.
The program has since grown to provide recycling and litter collection (also referred to as solid waste management) services to the refugee camp’s entire population of nearly 77,000 refugees who live within its five square kilometres, divided into twelve neighbourhoods referred to as ‘*districts*’.
By working closely with local municipalities, the program employs Syrian refugees, trained to collect and sort recyclable materials at which point they’re sold to private companies who compete in a transparent process of open tender bids.
Currently, 90% of Za’atari residents take part in sorting their household waste. It is the only place in the country with formal programming to do so. Last year alone, the program saw the creation of over 1000 jobs every month and a 40% engagement of women; the result of deliberate measures taken to break down the barriers women faced accessing jobs in the sector. Today, there are women-led teams and women “ambassadors” tasked with promoting environmental literacy in their homes and communities. To date, Oxfam’s recycling program has collected almost four million kilos of recyclable material.
Building on these initiatives, Oxfam launched “Bei’tak Baytak” (Arabic for “*your environment is your home*”) earlier this year, a country-wide environmental awareness campaign that hopes to raise environmental literacy in Jordan and turn a new leaf on attitudes and behaviours toward litter and recycling.
If Oxfam’s Za’atari model is any indicator, it is possible to keep communities clean, reduce environmental footprints while creating jobs and providing vulnerable people with a source of income.
“Before this, I had to constantly worry about my expenses, and stress about saving as much money as possible. But now, I can afford to give pocket money to my children,” Ali says.
Ali has been a team leader at the recycling facility for almost two years. Currently, he works six hours a day, six days a week and is responsible for overseeing the daily operation of one of Oxfam’s two sorting facilities including a staff cohort of almost 70 paid volunteers.
Teams of “trolley workers” like those Ali manages do regular walk-throughs of camp collecting the sorted recyclable materials that residents leave at their doorsteps.
On any given day he delegates duties, assigns teams to their respective districts and in this particularly trying period, has the added responsibility of ensuring preventative safety and security measures are followed, all the while making sure paid volunteers feel safe.
Non-recyclable material is either picked up at street level by refugee community cleaners or disposed of by residents in the numerous bins scattered throughout the refugee camp. It is then picked up by garbage trucks that service the camp every day transporting waste to neighbouring municipalities’ landfills.
Mahmoud is a 22-year-old Syrian refugee hired to oversee a similar – albeit smaller team of these community cleaners, tasked with picking up street waste from one of Za’atari’s districts.
“I connect with volunteer teams regularly to make sure I’m reminding them to maintain adequate distance between each other, sending them to different areas of camp, making sure they’re wearing gloves, washing their hands and often have to go as far as making sure people are comfortable working in the areas they’re assigned.”
Since the pandemic’s outbreak, experts and researchers have warned about the risks posed to refugee camps; Spaces not built to withstand crises of this magnitude simply by virtue of their population density, proximity of living conditions and basic levels of service intended to serve short-term humanitarian needs.
“All it would take is one person to get infected,” Ali says. “It would cause a ripple effect across the entire camp. The caravans we live in are so close to one another, supermarkets and bakeries are crowded – even with the physical distancing… I know we’re supposed to stay 2 meters apart but, sometimes even that is difficult in these conditions.”
Ali has five children that that he constantly worries about. And while Mahmoud doesn’t have children, he worries about the potential risk he poses to his family after coming home from a shift at work.
“I take a shower the instant I come home and make sure to change my clothes before I’m in contact with my family,” he says. “I don’t let my children go outside even, I don’t let them run the errands – even the older ones. I worry about them so much I prefer to make sure the essential errands are taken care of when I’m not at work.”
They were both pleased to find out their work was considered essential enough to continue operating.
“It is so hard to spend all day at home without work,” Ali says. “We’re able to spend our time contributing positively to our community and keeping the camp clean. I’m really happy to have this opportunity.”
Nonetheless they both expressed an apprehension about the future after the pandemic.
“I’m so thankful (to God) to have this opportunity – but I’m worried that the pandemic stays longer than we think,” he says. “What will I do? Where will I work after my contract here is over? Everything outside is closed and jobs in the camp are few and far between.”
Mahmoud quit school in order to support his family and his siblings and is trying to make sure they don’t ever have to make the same sacrifice.
Ali on the other hand has a grimmer outlook.
“It’s hard to answer this question,” he says. “In your own country, (before the war) it’s much easier to shape your own future and make choices that get you there. While Jordan has been good to us and is our second home – I can’t visualize the future that I’d like to see for myself here. My children are excellent students, I’m hopeful they’ll get scholarships that take them to post-secondary but if I’m being honest, my future is a narrow horizon and I don’t look forward to it.”
Despite this, both are able to hone in on a refined perspective born specifically from the pandemic and the curfew measures.
“People have started to feel the value of the smallest things they used to have that they may have taken for granted before,” Mahmoud says. “It has forced us to appreciate all of them – whether a job, family or health.”
“I just hope donor communities continue to support these important (solid waste management) projects at the refugee camp. I know for sure that working with Oxfam and getting this paid work opportunity has completely changed my life,” Ali says. “I just hope it all passes over without our Za’atari community needing more because of it.”
“But, regardless of what happens, what’s most important right now is having our health and having a life to wake up to.”
Written by: Eiman Zarrug & Aisha Shtiwi
Oxfam gives tremendous thanks to the generous financial support of the European Union Regional Trust Fund (MADAD) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Contents are the sole responsibility of Oxfam and do not necessarily reflect the views of the EU/MADAD or the BMZ.