Lebanon needs a long-term solution to its trash woes

Lebanon on the precipice of another trash crisis, with its own garbage floating in the sea, lining the streets, and forming a mountain in Tripoli. All this not even five years after the last crisis that, in 2015, saw mounds of garbage pile up on the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon. In the north, the garbage mounds have already reappeared, after the owner of the Aadoueh dump refused to accept anymore trash. In the capital, politicians have warned that if no solutions are implemented, the Burj Hammoud and Costa Brava landfills will reach capacity and the country will enter its next garbage crisis by the beginning of September. With that calendar mark passed, it seems Beirut remains safe for a little while longer. How much longer will be determined by the government’s ability to implement long-term waste management solutions rather than relying on ad hoc measures to delay continual