What’s the deal with garbage decentralization?

Over the past 10 years, the government has attempted and failed to implement plan after plan to end the country’s smoldering trash crisis. With each iteration, politicians criticize government inaction, while disagreeing on what to do with and where to put the garbage. On January 11, Lebanon took another swing at resolving this impasse, when the cabinet endorsed the Policy Summary on Integrated Solid Waste Management. The policy is intended to complement a draft law, which has been studied and refined since 2012 and is currently making its way through Parliament. If passed, it would be the country’s first legal framework specifically dedicated to solid waste management. Together, these documents outline a waste plan that places responsibility in the hands of local governments. Speaking at a press conference, Minister of Environment Tarek Khatib dubbed the approach “administrative decentralization,” the latest buzzwords among stakeholders throughout the capital. But what this term