On Sunday evening, Najat Saliba, an Atmospheric Chemistry specialist, posted a video via Twitter, showcasing a black cloud of toxic gas looming over Bourj Hamoud and the Jdeideh area.
The Lebanese Minister of Environment, Nasser Yassin, then rushed to give an explanation about the matter.
“There is a security issue at Jdeideh landfill where waste pickers, who collect recyclables from the landfill, are often in dispute with truck drivers and workers. They also burn tires. I’ll keep working with CDR (responsible for landfill) and Municipalities to find a way to organize it,” he said.
The minister added that he is also working to secure funding to restore the sorting and composting facilities in Karantina and Bourj Hammoud damaged by the Beirut Blast.
Adding that “these facilities, with planned drop-off centers in Beirut, will boost sorting from source, recycling and reducing waste that goes to landfill.”
This “genocide” as expressed by Oil & Gas policy expert, Laury Haytayan, is not the first “crime” against nature in the country.
In February, the World Bank issued a report tackling the air and environmental pollution in Lebanon.
The report showcased worrying numbers, highlighting that air pollution will cost Lebanon more than 3% of its GDP.
Per the report, air pollution costs a resident 60 days of illness over their lifetime and had caused around 270,000 premature deaths in 2019.
The World Bank also focused on the pollution over the Mediterranean, which is “one of the most plastic-polluted seas in the world”.
The Mediterranean has “as much plastic flowing into it each year as the volume of fish taken out from the two most commonly caught species,” the World Bank indicated.
