“It’s like there’s fog across the whole town,” said Othman, a resident of Kfar Zabad in the Bekaa Valley. “We’re coughing all the time, unable to breathe, sometimes we wake up and see ash in our spit.” Othman was describing the effects of the open burning of garbage, which takes place regularly near his home. Open burning of waste across the country is a dangerous and unreported part of Lebanon’s waste management crisis. In December 2017 Human Rights Watch released a report on the health risks of Lebanon’s waste management crisis. We found that the open burning of solid waste at more than 150 dumps across the country poses serious health risks to nearby residents and that the authorities’ inaction to end this open burning of waste was violating their right to health. Those living near dump sites which are burned reported an array of health problems consistent with frequent
