A report by the UN Habitat and the Muhanna Foundation indicated that the ongoing waste management crisis has had a negative impact on Lebanon’s environment, infrastructure, health and landscape.
It noted that there are currently more than 760 open dumps across Lebanon and warned that open dumping and backyard burning of solid waste would eventually lead to catastrophic impacts on infrastructure and water networks.
It considered that the only upside to the 2015 waste management crisis is the collective increase of the public’s awareness on the topic. The study estimated the average cost of the current waste management system at $320 million per year, and expected the cost to increase to an average of $670 million per year in 2025 and to up to $1.5 billion annually by 2030.
It noted that, since July 2015, 54 percent of waste in Lebanon has been disposed of in open dumps, 23 percent is placed in landfills, 15 percent is composted and 8 percent is recycled. The study estimated that each resident of urban areas in Lebanon generates 0.97 kilograms of waste per day on average. It added that only 23 percent of this waste is recovered, while 77 percent of it is disposed of.
Further, each resident of rural areas generates 0.79 kg of waste on average on a daily basis, with the same rates of recovery and disposal as urban waste. It also estimated that each refugee in Lebanon generates 0.5 kg of waste per day on average, with a 16 percent recovery rate and an 86 percent disposal rate.
The report called for an interim plan to export a portion of the piling trash over the coming months, while gradually transitioning to the domestic treatment of all waste. It pointed out that the overreliance on waste exports could lead to costs as high as $250 per ton, and would result in foregoing more affordable domestic solutions whereby cost recovery could reach up to $100 per ton, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group. It estimated the cost of the domestic treatment of waste to average $40 per ton over an estimated period of 18 months, with the potential to recover 33 percent of the costs by the end of the crisis mitigation period.
The study recommended the formulation of a viable and sustainable zero-waste national integrated waste management policy and of a subsequent strategic plan. It called for the clear distribution of responsibilities in the IWM process, with the central government setting the policy and formulating the plan; and regional governors overseeing, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of all IWM processes; while municipalities and the federations of municipalities would execute the national IWM plan.
The report pointed out that Lebanon’s waste composition has a strong foundation to build a green economy, given that 52.5 percent of the country’s current waste composition in urban and rural areas is organic. It said that current waste consists of paper (16 percent of total waste), plastic (12 percent), metals (6 percent), glass (4 percent) and other types of waste (10 percent).
It noted that organic waste should be treated at a ratio of 40 percent of soil rejuvenation, 50 percent composting and 10 percent of it should be landfilled, with the aim of developing waste-to-energy facilities. It urged authorities to ban and penalize open-dumping practices, discourage and penalize incineration, recycle and sell all inert material, export all hazardous waste instead of developing treatment sites, as well as disassemble and sell electronic waste.
