Lebanon’s waste sector at risk of the same mismanagement as electricity

ENAR

The waste crisis and the mismanagement of the sector have become a symbol of government incompetence and corruption. Millions of dollars have been squandered, and instead of having modern infrastructure, we have been left with an ongoing disaster affecting our health and draining our resources. There are 941 open dumps in Lebanon, more than 150 of which openly burn waste on a weekly basis. We are polluting our surface, groundwater, soil, and air. A Human Rights Watch report quoted an unnamed environmental journalist who said: “It’s as if you’re inhaling your death.” Apologists for the disastrous status quo keep saying that no one is offering a viable solution, and present incinerators as the magical fix-all that will make the waste problem disappear. This “waste-to-energy” solution will allegedly solve the waste problem and the country’s other lingering crisis, electricity. For proponents, waste will be the new electricity source, whereas, in reality,