Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan said he will propose a permanent solution to Lebanon’s waste management crisis at a meeting Monday night with the premier and other ministers.
“We have reached a solution. It is not temporary and it will be proposed during today’s meeting,” the Hezbollah minister said before joining the others at the Grand Serail to discuss the issue.
The minister did not say what he would propose.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam and 11 Cabinet ministers began meeting at 8:00 p.m. to discuss the crisis, after a session that convened earlier in the day failed to find a solution.
Officials have been attempting to secure temporary landfills across Lebanon to dispose of the capital's trash after waste management company Sukleen suspended waste pickup due to the closure of the Naameh landfill earlier this month.
As the meeting got underway, dozens of young men on scooters from the Beirut neighborhood of Khandaq al-Ghamiq tossed garbage bags in front of the Grand Serail in Downtown Beirut and near the premier’s residence in the area of Salim Salam.
A separate protest is also being staged near the Grand Serail by environmental activists. Demonstrators said that their movement will continue until a sustainable solution is declared.
Meanwhile, the Union of Iqlim al-Kharoub municipalities said after a meeting at the Interior Ministry Monday that they have found a “suitable place” to treat the area’s waste, pending an agreement with the Environment Ministry.
