When it comes to waste, Lebanon has a major mountain to climb. The Mediterranean country produces over 800,000 tons of rubbish annually, and the situation on the ground is dire.
Clogged Roads and Overflowing Landfills
For the past three decades, garbage has piled up on city streets and overflowing landfills, as the government struggle to address the issue effectively. Many towns and villages have unofficial dumps, scattered throughout neighborhoods and countryside landscapes, resulting in environmental blight, public health concern, and community unrest.
The Incinerator Proposal
Recently, the Lebanese government announced its plan to build an industrial incinerator in Amsheet, a densely populated city north of the capital, Beirut. In theory, the incinerator would have the capacity to burn approximately 1/3 of the country’s waste per year. Detractors of the scheme argue it would be overly expensive and produce toxic particles, damaging air quality even further.
Locals are pushing back, fearing the chosen site lies close to many residential homes and schools.
a Lack of Accountability
More than ever, the incident highlights Lebanon’s chronic flaws in environmental policy and urban planning, and the pressing need for accountable governance structure. Officials, including in the municipality, have for years claimed they are investigating the landfill problem, meanwhile, corruption, misallocated funds and the lack of transparency surrounding the waste policy have stifled any hopes of solutions being implemented rapidly.
Composting and Sustainable Solutions
Now, a minority of progressive and environmentally forward-thinking community leaders are beginning to discuss alternatives, notably composting, recycling technologies, or reusing discarded materials into something valuable.
Bio-gas production has the potential in the form of organic byproducts.
There are solutions available – a mix-and-match from waste management specialists, who advocate for separate waste sorting and recycling education, together with the private sector taking responsibility for landfill waste with composting organic waste; recycling and, in effect, reducing chemical waste produced through incineration process.
Hence the waste, waste every where we turn, all we’re saying is fix it before we all can’t help but breathe with the pungent noxious haze
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Lebanon’s inaction to waste management might be simply just the worst-case, for the incinerator, the final straw
A comprehensive sustainable solution is expected to start at the start of policy implementation, making sure residents of Lebanon – and by extension, investors and foreigners who visit as tourists to see the “Paris of the East”…
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