Sunday saw the debut of a new campaign from Lebanon’s Ministry of Environment with the slogan “Clean up Your Country.”
The initiative was launched on the Beirut waterfront and included the participation of numerous municipalities, NGOs, and volunteers.
Nasser Yassin, minister of the environment, remarked, “It’s a message to prohibit throwing waste randomly.”
To raise environmental consciousness, “it is also a way to affirm that the role of municipalities is crucial in cleaning up their cities, towns, and forests.”
At 8 a.m., dozens of young men, women, and children flocked to the Beirut shoreline with bags in hand to collect the littered remains of glass bottles, papers, plastic bottles, and tin cans.
People who spent the night on the promenade also had their belongings picked up, along with garbage that had been thrown from cars into the road and the ocean.
“Environmental awareness has decreased due to the ongoing chaos and the absence of deterrent measures,” Yassin continued.
One person said it best: “Those who disregard the cleanliness of the recreational places they go to should be ashamed of themselves when they see young women and kids picking up their trash.”
Volunteers were encouraged by Yassin, who explained the motivation behind the program’s duration: “The purpose of launching this campaign, which will endure for 100 days, is to ask people to clean up their country.
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To show our support for our local governments and to raise public awareness, we are holding this symbolic event today.
The economic downfall of Lebanon has exacerbated the country’s trash crisis.
The state has not implemented any permanent plans to solve the problem, instead opting for patchwork measures.
On occasion, the streets of Lebanese cities become makeshift garbage dumps when workers at waste management firms stage protests against their low wages.
There are growing environmental and health problems as trash collection sites become rubbish mountains awaiting treatment or disposal.
Garbage decomposition accelerates in the warmer summer months, compounding the situation.
Recently, Lebanon was listed as one of the world’s ten most polluted countries by the World of Statistics, a network of almost 2,360 organizations from around the globe.
Successive governments have not developed a long-term answer to the garbage problem, instead opting for band-aid solutions.
Human Rights Watch found that those living near dumps, landfills, or open burning of garbage experienced an increased risk of respiratory illness, cancer, and other skin and respiratory disorders.
As the study concluded, “there is a link between air pollution from open-air waste burning and heart disease, emphysema, and people’s potential exposure to carcinogenic compounds.”
Government and non-government efforts to promote residential rubbish sorting have been unsuccessful thus far in Lebanon.
Furthermore, many people dig through random trash cans on the street in search of valuable recyclables to sell at flea markets.
The cessation of garbage pickup and street cleaning has not caused a trash catastrophe, according to Yassin.
However, due to difficulties in obtaining funding, contractors are only collecting trash once each day instead of twice.
As a result of the monetary collapse and economic crisis, both local governments and the federal government are experiencing a loss in resources and are having a hard time collecting money.
“We need amendments to the laws to enable municipalities to collect direct fees on waste produced from homes, restaurants, and factories, as well as investment and development of all waste-related installations, sorting plants, and landfills, within the framework of cooperation between municipalities.”
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Instead of being recycled, composted, or separated, household garbage is simply dumped in landfills after being collected.
trash Management Coalition’s 2020 report states, “Lebanon spends $154.5 to manage 1 ton of solid waste, while Algeria, Jordan, and Syria spend $7.22, $22.8, and $21.55 respectively.”
The American University of Beirut experts quoted in a report by HRW and the WMC found that “only about 10 to 12 percent of Lebanon’s waste cannot be composted or recycled.”
Better waste management methods, such as recycling and composting, are estimated to bring in $74 million a year, according to the report. Unfortunately, 85 percent of trash is sent to dumps and open containers.
