With regard to the article "Illegal expats in Jeddah district upset residents" (Mar. 17), the majority of scavengers in Jeddah and probably in all of Saudi Arabia are illegal residents. With no access to proper medical treatment, they work and live in waste heaps greatly increasing the risk of spreading disease. Apart from polluting the streets, the activities these scavengers engage in also amount to theft. The ownership of waste is transferred from those who discard rubbish to the owners of the containers who make a living out of the professional recycling of waste. Stealing waste from garbage bins constitutes the theft of company property and is a disservice to society in general. Barthol, Online response
