Wasted opportunities

The lack of transparency in finding a way out of the July 2015 garbage crisis is appalling. Last August, the private sector put forward offers that would have seen modern waste solutions put in place all over the country. The volume of Lebanon’s waste being sent to landfill would have dramatically fallen (see policy story). Contracts for private companies to build real waste solutions, however, were canceled on a whim with a false cry that they were too expensive. Today, we’re worse off than we were a year ago. Beirut and the districts of Chouf, Aley, Baabda, Metn and Kesourwan are still preparing around 80 percent of their waste to be sent to a landfill. Those landfills (one at Costa Brava, south of Beirut airport, and one near Bourj Hammoud) have not yet been built. And the contract for the Costa Brava landfill was suspended on June 24. It’s only