Laila Kamel Iskandar was a pioneer in waste management. She started an innovative social and environmental project of earning money out of recycling household waste in a community near Cairo, improving the lives of garbage collectors. She also began an informal school to teach about hygiene and health, with a flexible schedule to keep up with families of garbage collectors, where children started helping out and working at an early age. Laila later became the Volunteer Field Director for the Rag Recycling Center at the Association for the Protection of the Environment (A.P.E.), an organization with different projects targeted toward the garbage collector community, fostering tourism in the area. She also runs a Rug-Weaving Center for girls, where they learn handcrafts, and also to read, write and do basic calculations. Photo credit: The Goldman Environmental Prize
