ARCENCIEL

Established: Known for:

1985 Sustainable development through social projects, waste management and recycling How to get involved: From staying in their guesthouses, to buying their natural dairy products or second hand furniture, there are many ways to support arcenciel’s work

01 495561/5, arcenciel.org aec.arcenciel

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Founded in the mid ‘80s, arcenciel is one of the country’s early sustainable development NGOS. It was created to help people left injured, disabled or suffering from social or financial problems or drug addiction, get back on track and regain their autonomy and dignity near the end of Lebanon’s Civil War. “We believe that difference is a factor of richness and that everyone is capable of progressing,” says Mario Goraibe, responsible for the education section of arcenciel’s environment program. “In arcenciel you find people in wheelchairs manufacturing wheelchairs, canes, walkers, crutches and orthopedic shoes; disabled women paint on ceramic pottery fabricated in arcenciel’s workshop and others restore old furniture and resell it in a second hand store known as La Brocante d’arcenciel.”

Now arcenciel conducts its operations through eight different programs, 13 centers and 550 volunteers. In addition, the NGO treats more than 80 percent of Lebanon’s hospital waste and more than 1,000 tons of solid waste each year. It also manages the Jesuit Domaine de Taanayel, a 2km2 land for sustainable agriculture, and promotes responsible tourism through its youth hostels and eco-tourism activities, with more than 100,000 visitors a year. arcenciel’s contribution to solid waste management started in 2009 in Taanayel, Bekaa, with a pilot recycling scheme. It assessed 300 families to see what kind of waste they were generating and look at the sorting process to see if there was potential for it to become national policy. “We started back then because we knew that the waste management strategy will lead to a crisis during which we won’t be able to find any piece of land in Lebanon to plants in Baabda and Taanayel, where it is split, compacted and later sold. The profit generated is invested back into arcenciel’s programs and reinvested in social work for people in need. Though Goraibe is positive about a growing awareness to waste management in Lebanon, for him the only long-term solution can come from the government. “If citizens start sorting and see the lack of interest and involvement of their municipality and state they will simply lose faith and stop sorting and recycling. This is where civil society intervenes through NGOS like arcenciel in keeping the good practice of sorting at source and recycling alive until a national strategy will be adopted.”