Waste management has long been a serious issue in Lebanon. For years, many efforts have been allocated and various waste management initiatives were taken to battle this problem.
Over recent days, Fadi Jreissati, Minister of Environment issued a statement to the President of the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) Nabil El-Jisr requesting the activation of the at-source waste management project in the districts of Mount-Lebanon.
Minister Jreissati’s recent statement came a few days after a meeting was held with representatives from the ministry and the CDR, where both sides agreed to initiate the project as soon as possible.
The project, which is set to promote recycling and waste reduction, is held in coordination between the Council for Development and Reconstruction and 10 municipalities.
In this regard, the participating municipalities shall, at the request of the Ministry of Environment, provide recycling containers in each street in front of each building.
These municipalities will, as well, be responsible for holding campaigns and guidance on how to upcycle materials.
In addition, the waste management contractors will collect and transport the wastes in new dedicated trucks to avoid the wastes being compressed or mixed with other wastes of the old trucks.
After a period of time and in coordination with the Ministry of Environment, the Council for Development and Reconstruction will evaluate the results in order to share them with the participating municipalities.
Lebanon’s waste problem dates back to 2015 when a huge landfill site closed and government authorities failed to implement in time a contingency plan to replace it.
This problem has urged environmental organizations to find creative and necessary solutions and has also incited many civil movements and spurred a number of constructive initiatives.
Earlier this month, the municipality of Beit-Mery launched a campaign “No for plastic bags” to reduce their use in shops and supermarkets within the municipal area.
That initiative came to complement the municipality’s 2016 endeavor of the waste treatment project, which has been treating since then waste from the source in a factory located in Beit Mery.
Similarly, the City of Jbeil (Byblos) has embarked since the summer of 2018 in eco-friendly alternatives to plastic bags in accordance with its city’s new environmental plan.
