The dirt beneath the stretcher

Located in the Jisr al-Wati district of east Beirut, the infectious medical waste treatment center of NGO Arcenciel is never empty. All day long, trucks bring in tons of waste generated by 112 hospitals in Beirut and its surroundings. Since 2003, Arcenciel has carried out a very necessary task: sterilizing medical infectious waste, which often contains contaminants and is capable of spreading diseases. Among the waste is blood, used bandages and syringes. Although it often occurs in Lebanon, these should not be mixed with domestic waste: burning or burying infectious waste without treating it first is very dangerous for the environment and public health. Treating medical infectious waste is new in Lebanon: before 2002, sterilizing it was not common practice. Most waste was eliminated alongside domestic refuse or dumped in the open. Some was also incinerated. “We used to incinerate them by ourselves. For about one year Sukleen took them