Trash Collection Resumes in Beirut as Ministerial Panel Reaches ‘Solution’
Naharnet/28 July/15/Trash collection resumed in Beirut on Monday evening after the waste management ministerial committee managed to agree on a preliminary solution to the garbage crisis. The solution involves the “immediate resumption” of waste collection in Beirut, a “balanced distribution” of Beirut and Mount Lebanon’s garbage to new locations and financial “incentives” to municipalities, Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq announced after an emergency meeting at the Grand Serail. Authorities would also continue to evaluate the tenders submitted by contractors and the Council for Reconstruction and Development will establish an “operations room” to follow up on the plan’s implementation, Mashnouq added. He said thermal decomposition centers will be set up for waste management. LBCI television meanwhile said the agreement involves finding locations for three new landfills. Earlier, Industry Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan announced that a “non-temporary solution” was reached for the crisis. “We reached a solution and it’s not temporary,” Hajj Hassan told reporters prior to the Grand Serail talks. “It will be discussed today and agreed on and will be followed up through recommendations,” he added. Education Minister Elias Bou Saab had noted that a “vision” for a possible solution was discussed during the committee’s morning meeting. The panel’s agreement comes on the eve of a cabinet session that will be held Tuesday morning at the Grand Serail. The crisis that erupted on July 17 has seen streets overflowing with waste and the air filled with the smell of rotting and burning garbage. The problem erupted after the central Naameh landfill was closed in accordance with a government decision taken earlier this year. The landfill opened in 1997. It was meant to receive trash from the capital and Mount Lebanon for only a few years until a comprehensive solution was devised. But the government kept extending the deadlines for its closure. The current crisis has prompted citizens to stage angry road-blocking protests in several regions and civil society activists have called for a sit-in outside the Grand Serail that will coincide with Tuesday’s cabinet session.
Cars Go Up in Flames as Protesters Continue Burning Waste in Beirut
Naharnet/28 July/15/Two cars went ablaze Monday evening in the Beirut area of Karakol al-Druze and several citizens suffered suffocation after young men set fire to trash dumpsters to protest the accumulation of garbage on the streets, state-run National News Agency reported. A vehicle from the Beirut Fire Brigade has since arrived at the scene to put out the flames, NNA said. Angry protesters also blocked roads with burning trash dumpsters in the Salim Salam, Beshara al-Khoury and Mar Elias districts. Outside Beirut, a number of young men tried to block the eastern lane of the vital Damour highway with burning tires before being dispersed several times by security forces, NNA said. The key highway connects the capital Beirut to the South governorate. Earlier in the day, protesters reopened the coastal highway in the Jiyeh area after receiving pledges from officials that no garbage trucks would be sent to the Iqlim al-Kharroub region. Several demonstrators and policemen were wounded in the morning during an attempt by security forces to reopen the highway by force. Health Minister Wael Abou Faour had urged citizens earlier on Monday not to burn the accumulating garbage, citing several health hazards. Trash collection had partially resumed in Beirut on Sunday but several streets are still overflowing with waste and the air is filled with the smell of rotting garbage. The collection restarted after a temporary deal was found to begin taking trash to several landfills in undisclosed locations. The crisis started after residents living near the Naameh landfill, the country’s largest dumpsite, shut it down. The government pledged last year that Naameh landfill would be closed on July 17 and an alternative site be found. But the date came and went with no solution found and residents began blocking the route to the site in the mountains outside Beirut. Initially, Beirut’s trash collector, the Sukleen firm, stored waste at its facilities, but by July 20 they were at capacity and garbage began piling up in the streets. Experts have urged Lebanon’s government to devise a comprehensive waste management solution that would include more recycling and composting to reduce the amount of trash going into landfills.
‘You Stink’ Campaigners Back to the Streets of Beirut
Naharnet/28 July/15/Anti-trash activists blocked on Tuesday several roads in Beirut to protest the authorities’ failure to find a permanent solution to the waste crisis. The demonstration was planned to coincide with a cabinet session which Prime Minister Tammam Salam adjourned to pave way for more consultations. Tuesday’s protest by “You Stink” activists at Riad al-Solh square near the Grand Serail was not the first. The same demonstrators held a sit-in in the area over the weekend to protest the mountains of garbage that had piled up in Beirut and its suburbs. The protesters then blocked the road near Mohammed al-Amin mosque where the environment ministry is located, calling for the resignation of Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq. They later moved to Beirut’s Hamra thoroughfare chanting slogans calling on the authorities to resolve the waste problem. At one point, the demonstrators surrounded the vehicle of Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas, who later severely criticized them, telling Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that the protesters were on the verge of “smashing the car’s windows.”They also threw trash bags near the Central Bank that lies in Hamra. LBCI TV said the activists tracked dump trucks on Monday night and found out that the trash was being thrown in Beirut River and a parking lot in Sin el-Fil. The Facebook page of “You Stink” has so far garnered over 6,700 likes. Trash collection resumed on Monday evening after the waste management ministerial committee headed by Salam managed to agree on a preliminary solution to the garbage crisis. The solution involves the “immediate resumption” of waste collection in Beirut, a “balanced distribution” of Beirut and Mount Lebanon’s garbage to new locations and financial “incentives” to municipalities, Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq said following the committee’s emergency meeting at the Grand Serail. The trash crisis erupted on July 17 when the Naameh landfill south of Beirut was closed.
Hizbullah Appeases Salam after Trash Thrown Near his Residence
Naharnet/28 July/15/Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has sent an envoy to inform Prime Minister Tammam Salam that the party is keen on the cabinet and to distance itself from recent riots caused by the waste crisis near his residence in Beirut, sources said Tuesday. The ministerial sources told al-Mustaqbal daily that a Hizbullah minister visited Salam in Msaitbeh, carrying with him a “personal message” from Nasrallah in which he stressed “the party’s keenness on the PM and his role.” In the message, Nasrallah distanced Hizbullah from chaos when masked men burned trash and threw some of them near Salam’s residence, said the sources. Security sources told the newspaper that the men are members of the Hizbullah-linked Resistance Brigades. They blocked several roads in Beirut on Monday night, burned trash, threw some of them near Salam’s home and stirred disputes with passers-by, said the sources. Al-Joumhouria newspaper also said that Salam expressed resentment at the incident during an emergency meeting for the waste management ministerial committee that he chaired on Monday. “Is this a message sent to me? Is there someone who wants to put pressure on me so that I resign because of the waste file?” Salam reportedly asked. But Hizbullah Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan and Amal Movement Minister Ali Hassan Khalil sought to appease the premier. The ministers held phone talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, who heads Amal, and Nasrallah to inform Salam that both parties reject such acts, said al-Joumhouria. The ministers stressed that the men who caused the rioting do not represent any side, it added.
