Lebanon faces new bout of refuse woes
Beirut’s plan to build two landfills by the sea is drawing criticism over the effects on marine life and public safety, risking a repeat of last year’s protests, writes Josh Wood, Foreign Correspondent
BEIRUT // In Lebanon, where the words “sur mer” are often tacked onto beach clubs and restaurants to suggest the sophistication and pristine shores of the French Riviera, the latest use of the words takes a different approach.
“Zbele sur mer” – rubbish on the sea, in Arabic and French – reads a sign strung up on a cinder block wall in east Beirut’s downtrodden industrial district. As the sign suggests, Lebanon’s rubbish woes are not yet over.
One year ago, the forced closure of the largest landfill in the country left Beirut’s streets flooded with rubbish that blocked traffic, stung nostrils and raised fears of a widespread public health crisis.
The crisis spawned street rallies – at times drawing tens of thousands of protesters – that quickly morphed into a movement against the government, its sectarian parties, inherent corruption, chronic mismanagement and a failure to provide basic services.
Rubbish was eventually taken off the streets to makeshift dumps, and Lebanon’s largest landfill was temporarily reopened.
The government has also ar- ranged for two landfills to be built on the outskirts of Beirut, but critics said they would pose significant environmental and public safety concerns.
One is situated by the sea in the Beirut suburb of Bourj Hammoud, tucked between Beirut’s port and a closed landfill. The second is in the Costa Brava area south of the city, also by the sea, and sits across the street from one of the runways at Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport.
Activists worry that rubbish will leak into the sea, potentially affecting the livelihoods of fishermen and contaminating marine life.
The Costa Brava site adds additional worries, as it is close to the airport. Landfills attract birds – and drawing birds near airports increases the risk of bird strikes, which can damage or bring down aircraft.
Bassam Sabbagh, head of urban environment service at the environment ministry, agreed the seaside dumps were not ideal but “the best we can do”.
“We have to look on the brighter side that we now have two landfills and waste will not pile up in the street,” he says. Mr Sabbagh says concerns about waste leaking into the sea are unwarranted. Last month, members of Kataeb – the Lebanese Christian party leading the opposition – reportedly attacked construction workers at the Bourj Hammoud landfill with sticks to dissuade them from continuing with the project. A party representative denies the claims.
Kataeb protesters have since successfully halted building at the site by removing the keys from construction vehicles. In response, the municipality closed off access to a neighbouring temporary dump last Wednesday in an effort to pressure the protesters into allowing construction to resume.
Mr Sabbagh warns that if the situation does not change, the streets of Beirut and the surrounding areas could again accumulate rubbish like last year.
Already, pictures of rubbish piling up in the streets are being published on social media.
Kataeb says its opposition is not rooted in sectarianism, despite only having a protest camp at the predominantly Christian Bourj Hammoud area, and not at Costa Brava.
“This is not a Christian problem, or a Druze problem or a Muslim problem – it’s a national problem. Our political discourse is not sectarian,” says Marwan Abdallah, the coordinator of Kataeb’s foreign relations office.
Mr Abdallah says Kataeb wants to rally against the Costa Brava landfill as well, but adds that going there as a Christian party could spark trouble, as the landfill is dominated by another sect and some people retain a “civil war mentality”.
Whether or not their protests are rooted in sectarianism, Kataeb remains the kind of party that protests last year railed against, and is dividing the ranks of activists.
Kataeb played a major role in Lebanon’s civil war – its militia, like other groups, carried out massacres. In more recent times, its leaders have called for federalisation in Lebanon, which would split the country largely along religious lines.
“We do not believe that their refusal of the Bourj Hammoud landfill is about caring about the health of the people, because if that were true, it should be on a national level and not only a local level,” said a leader of You Stink, the movement that led anti-rubbish and anti-government protests last year.
Although Kataeb says they are open to non-party activists joining their protest, the You Stink leader says his group is against “people who used to be warlords and are now warlords in time of peace”.
Still, some activists are responding to Kataeb’s calls.
Josephine Zgheib joined the rubbish protests early last year, months before the larger street protests emerged.
For Mrs Zgheib, the crisis may do something that years of instability, long-running shortages of water and electricity and all the other national failures have not – force her out of the country.
“I believe that if this [the completion of the Bourj Hammoud landfill] happens, 100 per cent we will leave the country. Because you will not eat healthy, you will not breathe healthy.”
Activists want a waste management approach that increases recycling – not hastily built landfills by the sea. Both Kataeb and You Stink advocate increased recycling and composting.
But Mr Sabbagh says carrying out such measures could take decades. It would involve commitment from the government, the population and fostering a culture of environmental awareness. In Lebanon, where so many other problems occupy the minds of the population, it does not seem realistic.
“You cannot ask people to sort rubbish when you still have ex- plosions and you still have the instability we are living in,” says Mr Sabbagh. “This is not acceptable.”
We do not believe that their refusal of the Bourj Hammoud landfill is about caring about the health of the people, because if that were true, it should be on a national level and not only a local level A leader of the You Stink movement on the Kataeb party’s opposition to the Bourj Hammoud landfill