A
protest is planned in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, where mountains of
uncollected rubbish fill up in the streets to fester in the summer heat
at a time of political paralysis.
Saturday’s rally in front of the government palace, the Grand Serail, comes amid health warnings and anger at the government for failing to address a crisis ignited by the long-scheduled closure of a major landfill site last week.
Residents walking by the rubbish spilling out of dumpsters and into the paths of passing cars used their shirts or scarves to cover their noses and protect themselves from the smell. The growing heaps have been dusted with white poison powder to keep away rats and insects, but the measure does little to combat the odour.
Ordinarily, the city's trash is disposed of at the Naameh landfill in the mountains southeast of Beirut, the endpoint for waste produced by around half of Lebanon's four million citizens.
Since the landfill closure, the main waste management company Sukleen stopped collecting rubbish, saying it had no place to dispose the garbage.
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.
The tip at Naameh had already been kept open well beyond its planned closure date. The date set for its final closure - July 17 - was known, but the authorities had no ready alternative when the day came.
Residents in Naameh made sure the landfill remained closed by blocking the roads leading to it. They say the site cannot take any more rubbish and are fed up living next to the site that opened in 1997.
The landfill was meant to receive only two million tonnes of rubbish from the capital and the heavily populated Mount Lebanon area for only a few years until a comprehensive solution was devised. It swelled into a trash mountain of over 15 million tonnes.
"In Beirut, it's only been four or five days of garbage and people already can't take it. We have been dealing with Lebanon's trash for the last 17 years," said Youssef Halabi, a resident of Aramoun village near the landfill.
"We can't open our windows because of the gases coming off the dump," the 28-year-old told the AFP news agency. "I've invited ministers to come to my place and see if they can tolerate it."
Marwan Rizkallah, a Lebanese solid waste management expert, said that not only a new landfill site will be needed, but Lebanon also has to adopt recycling and better home sorting of trash so the organic matter that he says constitutes more than 50 percent of its garbage can be composted.
All that will require government action, which seems unlikely in the short-term, as the parliament and cabinet both remain politically paralysed and the presidency left vacant for over a year.
Lebanon's minster of environment, Mohamad al-Machnouk, said the rubbish problem is a reflection of the political stalemate in the country.
He estimated that more than 20,000 tonnes of rubbish were piled up in the streets.
"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 are no possibilities of land at all in Beirut itself and its suburbs."
Activists calling for Saturday’s protest want an immediate long-lasting solution for the rubbish crisis.
Saturday’s rally in front of the government palace, the Grand Serail, comes amid health warnings and anger at the government for failing to address a crisis ignited by the long-scheduled closure of a major landfill site last week.
Residents walking by the rubbish spilling out of dumpsters and into the paths of passing cars used their shirts or scarves to cover their noses and protect themselves from the smell. The growing heaps have been dusted with white poison powder to keep away rats and insects, but the measure does little to combat the odour.
Ordinarily, the city's trash is disposed of at the Naameh landfill in the mountains southeast of Beirut, the endpoint for waste produced by around half of Lebanon's four million citizens.
Since the landfill closure, the main waste management company Sukleen stopped collecting rubbish, saying it had no place to dispose the garbage.
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.
The tip at Naameh had already been kept open well beyond its planned closure date. The date set for its final closure - July 17 - was known, but the authorities had no ready alternative when the day came.
Residents in Naameh made sure the landfill remained closed by blocking the roads leading to it. They say the site cannot take any more rubbish and are fed up living next to the site that opened in 1997.
The landfill was meant to receive only two million tonnes of rubbish from the capital and the heavily populated Mount Lebanon area for only a few years until a comprehensive solution was devised. It swelled into a trash mountain of over 15 million tonnes.
"In Beirut, it's only been four or five days of garbage and people already can't take it. We have been dealing with Lebanon's trash for the last 17 years," said Youssef Halabi, a resident of Aramoun village near the landfill.
"We can't open our windows because of the gases coming off the dump," the 28-year-old told the AFP news agency. "I've invited ministers to come to my place and see if they can tolerate it."
Marwan Rizkallah, a Lebanese solid waste management expert, said that not only a new landfill site will be needed, but Lebanon also has to adopt recycling and better home sorting of trash so the organic matter that he says constitutes more than 50 percent of its garbage can be composted.
All that will require government action, which seems unlikely in the short-term, as the parliament and cabinet both remain politically paralysed and the presidency left vacant for over a year.
Lebanon's minster of environment, Mohamad al-Machnouk, said the rubbish problem is a reflection of the political stalemate in the country.
He estimated that more than 20,000 tonnes of rubbish were piled up in the streets.
"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 are no possibilities of land at all in Beirut itself and its suburbs."
Activists calling for Saturday’s protest want an immediate long-lasting solution for the rubbish crisis.
Don't only complain on #Twitter & #Facebook demonstrate this Saturday at 5 in front of the Grand Serail _ #طلعت_ريحتكم #لبنان #Lebanon
Source: Al Jazeera And Agencies