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Wed, Jul 07 2010 |
This is enough waste to fill a football stadium to the brim and if laid on the ground would make a trail reaching all the way through Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and into central Georgia. In reality it is largely piled up in giant, stinking mountains, such as the 300 meter garbage pile in Sidon which collapsed into the sea in 2008, sending debris across the Mediterranean as far afield as Cyprus and Turkey.
To tackle this environmental nuisance and affront to public health, a national campaign is now urging people to class their garbage into recyclable and organic bins with the hope that it will eventually be sorted, either by private enterprise, or, by one of the 18 solid-waste management plants, that are in various degrees of completion around the country.
The facilities are part of a $17.85 European Commission (EC) initiative which is managed by the Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform in collaboration with other ministries.
“Waste management is a public service that local authorities must be able to deliver to citizens,” said Patrick Laurent, the EC ambassador to Lebanon. “Our experience shows that – in order for such programs to be sustainable – there needs to be a long-term commitment of all stakeholders, including local and national authorities as well as individuals.”
While workers at the garbage sorting plants are capable of partitioning waste – which is either converted to compost for farming or recycled to make new plastic and glass goods – sorting in the home reduces plant operating costs, pushes up productivity, and increases the quality of recycled byproduct.
“It is also essential to put the Lebanese citizen at the center of this initiative,” Laurent said. “Beyond issues of the initial investment and financial sustainability, an efficient solid waste management strategy must also involve a reduction in the volume of waste and a change in attitudes.”
Even the garbage that is separated and collected cannot be fully recycled. Some items, such as plastic bags and crisp wrappers cannot be broken down and must either be incinerated or buried, to the great detriment of the environment.
Environmental campaigners are therefore pushing for a total rethink of consumer practice and are urging households to take practical measures such as buying products with little or no packaging or purchasing fresh, rather than packaged, fruit and vegetables.
The awareness campaign, which is being carried out with the assistance of NGOs Arc En Ciel and Sustainable Environmental Solutions (SES), is taking particular care to target young people and is working with schools across the country to instil a sense of environmental responsibility among the youth.
Pilot recycling and home sorting schemes have shown a large degree of receptiveness among the general population. An SES survey found that out of sampled households, some 69 percent of people would be willing to sort in the home, that 20 percent would not sort but would pay up to LL 15,000 for the service, and that only 11 percent would prefer to do nothing.
According to the SES, a local sorting scheme in the south of the country which lasted between 1996 and 1998, had an almost 80 percent compliance rate. It was halted once the first municipal elections took place and the new municipalities resumed guardianship of waste collection.
At present the management of waste collection at the municipal level is extremely disorganized and fragmented and even where facilities such as garbage trucks exist, they are not being utilized properly, explained Makram Oueiss, an Interior Ministry representative speaking at the event.
“We have to work with all the different stake holders to preserve the Lebanese environment or at least what is left of it,” said Oueiss.
“A degree of decentralization should be encouraged to make sure the natural environment of every town and village is maintained.”
Solid waste is known to have a detrimental effect on human health, especially that of young children, and is also harmful to the economy, dampening touristic demand and adversely hitting the trade balance due to the expense of importing unnecessary packaging.
Copyright Dailystar
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