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SORT IT OUT! words bassam al kantar
Background Information In Lebanon, an ongoing dilemma on waste management is evident. Studies show that the amount of waste produced needs adequate management plans to ensure a healthier lifestyle and environment. In 2016, the estimated Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated in Lebanon amounted to 2.04 million tons a year or 5600 tons a day, 77% of which went to landfills and dumpsites. Particularly, in Beirut, the estimated MSW generated amounted to 237250 tons a year or 650 tons a day. The solid waste composition is divided as follows: paper and cardboard accounting to 16%, plastics accounting to 11.5%, organic matter accounting to 52.5%, and others accounting to 20%. Others include 5.5% of metals, 3% of textiles, 3.5% of glass, 1% of wood, 3% of diapers, and 4% of others. Decision makers agree that waste incineration could be a practical solution to implement. However, its success incorporates a nationwide strategy. Furthermore, anti-incineration coalitions argue that adopting waste to energy solution is actually a step toward burning just about everything. Consequently, before burning or landfilling residue, the government needs to employ waste strategies that acknowledge the significance of sorting, recycling, composing, and biofuel generating. Waste management has also been attributed to politics in Lebanon. In the summer of 2015,
the government suspended trash collection due to the shutting down of the Naameh Landfill. The decision incited protests in Beirut. In March 2016, authorities claimed that they have solved the issue. However, contractors were simply disposing the trash into two newly established coastal landfills instead of the Naameh one. In a bid to end this crisis, the Lebanese government announced a temporary four-year plan by adopting a sorting waste process from source, strengthening recycling industries, and establishing waste treatment facilities. On a different note, in September 2015, the Lebanese government established guidelines on the Solid Domestic Waste (SDW) Treatment Plan. They adopted the principle of treatment decentralization, whereby the municipalities and their union were held responsible for the SDW over a sustainable period, in accordance with implementation mechanisms set for this purpose, as an intrinsic part of the transitional SDW treatment period.
A Study within Beirut Even though collecting recyclable material is an active service, especially within the vicinity of Beirut, 50% of those materials are lost upon reaching the disposal phase due to the lack of sorting from the source. Moreover, landfill use is linked to land availability and the “not in my backyard – nimby� effect. Early next year, the United Nations Development Program is planning to launch a new pro-
