LEBANON-RUBBISH CRISIS Rubbish piles up on Beirut streets

Record ID: 146319

  • Title: LEBANON-RUBBISH CRISIS Rubbish piles up on Beirut streets
  • Date: 23rd July 2015
  • Summary: BEIRUT, LEBANON (JULY 22, 2015) (REUTERS) CARS DRIVING PAST A PILE OF GARBAGE ALONG A STREET IN BEIRUT PILE OF GARBAGE ALONG THE STREET GARBAGE PILES IN BEIRUT STREETS CARS DRIVING PAST THE ENTRANCE OF SUKLEEN COMPANY IN BEIRUT SUKLEEN LOGO ON THE COMPANY'S WALLS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER AT SUKLEEN, PASCALE NASSAR, SAYING: "Everyone knows about Beirut be
  • Embargoed: 7th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA54IZPR2MHMJZTO0S81P93K2NW
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Mountains of rubbish are piling up in the streets of the Lebanese capital Beirut, as the city struggles to figure out how to deal with the long awaited closure of a major landfill site that shut last Friday (July 17).
    Waste management company Sukleen stopped collecting rubbish on Sunday (July 19), saying they had nowhere to put the rubbish they were picking up.
    "Everyone knows about Beirut being one of the cleanest cities in the world. We wanted to maintain this as much as we can, but we have a certain capacity that we can absorb in our factories. We sorted trash on Friday and Saturday but we did not have more space on Sunday because we were keeping a volume of what was supposed to go to the landfill. And so we had to stop collecting trash, but we continued sweeping," said Pascale Nassar, communications manager at Sukleen.
    The company's contract expired with the closure of the landfill site at Naameh, south of Beirut.
    Nassar added that the government should take steps to resolve the crisis.
    "For the time being, the solution is not in our hands, we are waiting. Unfortunately, the streets are filled up with garbage but we can't find an alternative now. The plan should come from the state, and we will then act upon it," she said.
    The stench of uncollected refuse in the streets of Beirut is a stark reminder of the crisis of government afflicting Lebanon, where politicians divided by local and regional conflicts have been unable to agree on where to dump the capital's rubbish.
    Lebanon's Minster of Environment, Mohamad al Machnouk, said the garbage problem is the result of political issues.
    "We reached this crisis because of the current political conflict in Lebanon. We could have solved this subject seven months ago and not have a crisis," he said.
    "We should cooperate with everyone in Lebanon to find landfills for Beirut and its suburbs because there is no possibilities of land at all in Beirut itself and its suburbs," he added.
    The tip at Naameh had already been kept open well beyond its several extensions. Now activists and residents of the village are blocking the road leading to the landfill, preventing garbage trucks from reaching the landfill to ensure it stays shut.
    Environmental activist Chady Hamze says the site at Naameh can't take anymore rubbish.
    ''There were recently six months of extensions for the landfill, three months then another last three months, and now we are the ones enforcing this decision since the government is not being able to enforce it. At the same time, Sukleen's landfill or Naameh landfill is full, it can't bear anymore. We were patient for 17 or 18 years on this decision that was taken as a contingency plan for five years, and it has been extended one time after the other. People can not bear anymore,'' he said.
    In Beirut too, environmental activists staged a protest at the Grand Serail, also known as the Government Palace and headquarters of the Prime Minister of Lebanon.
    The demonstration called for an immediate long-lasting solution for the rubbish crisis.
    Activist Samer Abdullah blamed the government for not addressing the issue sooner.
    "Rubbish is filling Beirut's streets, and it has been a while we know are reaching this point. The contract did not end suddenly nor did the demand to close the Naameh landfill happen out of nowhere. It's been happening for a while and the government is not giving it attention, they always leave it to the last minute and it is not the first time Beirut streets are filled up with garbage," he said.
    Environment minister Al Machnouk said on Thursday (July 23) after a cabinet meeting that municipalities in greater Beirut and Mount Lebanon will start reducing the amount of rubbish in the streets, moving it to temporary small landfills, until a more permanent solution is found.
    The crisis echoes wider problems facing Lebanon.
    The weak state has long been criticised for failing to develop the country and its infrastructure: Beirut still suffers daily power cuts some 25 years since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
    But government has been particularly poor since the eruption of the war in neighbouring Syria. That conflict has exacerbated Lebanon's political divisions, often along sectarian lines that reflect the Syrian conflict.
    The presidency has been vacant for more than a year, and parliament elected in 2009 has extended its own term and postponed elections until 2017 on the grounds of instability.
    A government of national unity has maintained a semblance of central authority and helped to contain sectarian tensions.
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