Salam Urges 'Quick' Measures for 'Immediate' Implementation of Waste Plan

Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Friday demanded “quick technical, legal and administrative measures” to facilitate the immediate implementation of an emergency waste management plan devised by Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb and a team of experts.

Salam's recommendations were voiced during a broad meeting at the Grand Serail with Shehayyeb, Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq, the head of the Council for Development and Reconstruction, and a group of consultants, lawyers, experts and contractors in charge of running garbage dumpsites.

“Salam opened the meeting by warning that the problem is not a regular problem and that it requires extraordinary and speedy measures,” said Shehayyeb after the meeting.

“After being briefed on the steps that have been taken by the ministers of agriculture and interior and the CDR chief, the premier called on the conferees to employ all the quick technical, legal and administrative measures that can facilitate the immediate implementation of the plan,” Shehayyeb added.

Participants stressed that “it is our duty to set up sanitary landfills to replace the existent random dumps, even if the two regions (Akkar and Bekaa) do not take in garbage from other areas,” said the minister.

“This is a final decision and I tell our people in Akkar and Bekaa that this step is in favor of their demands, knowing that sanitary landfills are a developmental model that every region needs instead of random dumps,” Shehayyeb noted.

He pointed out, however, that the plan will be implemented through “consultations with the partners who took part in devising this plan and the dignitaries and residents of the two regions.”

Shehayyeb also announced that another meeting will be held Monday at the Grand Serail to “assess the practical steps that are being implemented at the Srar site (in Akkar) and the possible steps at the al-Masnaa site” in the Bekaa.

Salam had held talks with Shehayyeb upon his return to Lebanon from the United States on Thursday on the latest efforts to resolve the trash disposal crisis, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Friday.

Another meeting was held on Friday between Salam, Shehayyeb and Mashnouq.

Prior to the meetings with Salam, Shehayyeb had held bilateral talks with Mashnouq on the matter.

He had held discussions earlier this week with numerous officials to explain to them his proposal on ending the trash crisis that has plunged Lebanon in waste since July.

The minister's proposal calls for the reopening of the Naameh landfill whose closure on July 17 sparked the country's unprecedented garbage crisis.

It also envisions converting two existing dumps, in Srar and the eastern border area of al-Masnaa, into “sanitary landfills” capable of receiving trash for more than a year.

After he announced his plan earlier this month, the civil society and local residents of Akkar, Naameh, Majdal Anjar, and Bourj Hammoud protested against the step.

Experts have urged the government to devise a comprehensive waste management solution that would include more recycling and composting to reduce the amount of trash going into landfills.

Environmentalists fear the crisis could soon degenerate to the point where garbage as well as sewage will simply overflow into the sea from riverbeds as winter rains return.

The health ministry has warned that garbage scattered by seasonal winds could also block Lebanon's drainage system.

The trash crisis has sparked angry protests that initially focused on waste management but grew to encompass frustrations with water and electricity shortages and Lebanon's chronically divided political class.

Campaigns like "You Stink" brought tens of thousands of people into the streets in unprecedented non-partisan and non-sectarian demonstrations against the entire political class.