Lebanon Addresses Trash Crisis With Temporary Solution
On March 12, Lebanon announced a temporary solution to the country’s long lasting trash crisis. Dozens of trucks in Lebanon are now carrying thousands of bags to dump in landfills that reopened just two weeks ago.The crisis began in July 2015 with the closing of the Naameh landfill, which has contained all of the country’s waste since 1991. The landfill shut down after the government failed to fulfill promises to find an alternative site or solution. Once the trash collectors’ facilities could no longer contain additional trash, garbage piled up on the streets. Major protests were subdued when the government moved trash to the periphery of Beirut. On March 12, however, demonstrations pressured the cabinet to address the trash crisis.
The temporary solution involves reopening three landfills, including the Naameh landfill, as well establishing two new landfills in undisclosed locations. The solution is the first to be implemented after a series of dozens of proposals that failed due to political disagreement, incompetence, and corruption.
On December 21, the cabinet approved a plan that allowed Lebanon to export trash with the assistance of the British firm Chinook Urban Mining. After months of inaction and uncertainty about the nature of the export solution, the deal with Chinook fell through due to the firm’s inability to obtain documents from Russia, the import country, approving acceptance of the waste.
Trash being added to a large pile of garbage in Beirut, Lebanon. Courtesy of Bilal Hussein
The government has also rejected sanitary landfills and fermentation technology due to potential environmental concerns.
Protesters remain unhappy with the temporary solution, claiming that additional landfills are antithetical to the well-being of Lebanon. Protesters’ frustrations are rooted in the government’s inability to agree on better solutions. According to Lara Sabah, a 42-year-old filmmaker and demonstrator, “We know there are solutions that are put aside because they [politicians] can't agree on who gets what, and we want to change that, simply." Extreme political deadlock has left the country without a president for nearly two years, and the cabinet struggles to make basic decisions. Protestors claim that the country is experiencing unprecedented levels of government corruption as a result.
Experts are concerned that the trash crisis will carry serious health implications. “The current talk about the proliferation of germs is just a drop in the bucket of what lies ahead if the crisis continues. Within a few years to come, serious chronic diseases will appear such as cancer, renal and hepatic impairment, Alzheimer's and congenital deformities,” reported Ateka Berri, head of preventive medicine at the Ministry of Health, to Al-Monitor. The American University of Beirut reported that the trash incineration process at landfills increases carcinogens 2,300 percent on waste burning days.
Additionally, spending in the tourism sector has declined rapidly. According to the Lebanese Minister of Tourism, “tourists’ spending dropped by 35% at the onset of the trash crisis and with the start of civil society street movements that turned into a chaotic movement.”
Environmentalists worry that the temporary solution is simply part of a larger process of implementing the pre-existing landfill system. They claim that the eight-month-long trash crisis tamed dissent and that the government will use their momentum to repeat environmentally unsustainable practices.