Executive Magazine

Stopping the spill

by Executive Editors October 19, 2015

written by Executive Editors

War is coming. The battles ahead will not be fought on land or sea. They will be waged in parliamentary sessions and cabinet meetings. Our enemy is readying for an invasion so our defenses must be impenetrable. As Lebanon slowly develops an oil and gas industry, we need weapons purpose-built to prevent the systemic corruption that is destroying this country from winning territory in this new sector. The law is our sword in this fight, so we must forge it well.

All too often, people living in Lebanon denounce the country’s perceived lawlessness, wishing it were more like Europe or the United States of America. There seems to be a notion that elected officials, corporate bigwigs and average citizens in the EU and US are more upstanding or less prone to corruption and dirty dealing. That, however, is simply false. If there is less corruption in the EU and US than there is in Lebanon, it is only because these jurisdictions implement and enforce their laws, not because people there are somehow morally superior. Building a clean hydrocarbon industry in Lebanon will not be easy, but it’s also not impossible.

To stop corruption from spoiling this sector will require the strict enforcement of well prepared and effective legislation. The evolving legal framework, as they say, looks good on paper, with the exception of a loophole that allowed two local businessmen to establish a company in Hong Kong, obscure their ownership and pre-qualify for a licensing round with no previous experience aside from finding a qualified partner. MP Joseph Maalouf’s oil and gas transparency law is welcome and should be fully approved and ready for implementation before the first exploratory wells are drilled. The challenge moving forward will be enforcement. Lebanon already has plenty of good laws, the problem is that nearly everyone (citizens, police officers, elected officials) ignores them. This cannot be allowed to happen with oil and gas. We need vicious and well-trained watchdogs both inside and outside the system.

If hydrocarbons are found and exploitable, they will belong to every Lebanese. If and when the money comes, its management must be absolutely transparent. The government wants to create a sovereign wealth fund which is a potentially great idea. Drafting the law that will govern that fund must be a public process. Debates about how the fund should operate must be held in public, not behind closed doors. The fund law must also create an independent authority to monitor revenues in order to complement the parallel oversight work that local NGOs will be conducting. Transparency must be the cornerstone on which this industry is built. For a start, the public deserves to know why there is already a loophole allowing unqualified companies to bid for the exploitation of our potential resources. We must be prepared. We must be vigilant. We must win this time.

October 19, 2015 0 comments

The leaders of a leaderless movement

by Executive Editors October 13, 2015

written by Executive Editors

An awakened anger against the Lebanese government’s corruption and ineptitude has given birth to a growing country-wide popular movement. Young and old, rich and poor, political and apolitical, the movement has seen all sorts of people take part. But what these protesters do have in common is one very important thing: they are not coming to the streets under divisive sectarian or political banners. Rather, they are coming down united against a government which has swamped them and their country in garbage for over two months now, all the while lining their pockets and washing their hands of any responsibility.

Executive sat down with representatives of five groups that have either formed or reformed since the beginning of the protests to find out who they are, what their demands are and what they hope the future holds for them and for Lebanon.

These groups have been in the media and public limelight for the past couple of months, and, while many of them prefer to be seen as facilitators of the movement rather than leaders, they understand that their organizing has placed them in a position where they must be held to account for their words and actions. Simply opposing the government’s proposed solution to the garbage crisis was not enough. So, on September 28, representatives from each group attended a press conference in Beirut in which they put forward an alternative solution to the garbage crisis with the help of key environmental experts. The main points of the plan stipulate that all garbage that has been thrown in open dumps must be collected, local municipalities must take over responsibility of sweeping, collecting garbage and recycling, and that clear conditions on waste management must be put in place by the Ministry of Environment, supervised by the Ministry of Interior, civil society organizations and environmental experts.

How the detailed plan is received by the government and the wider public is yet to be seen. But what is clear is that these groups mean business, and not business as usual. They have had enough of empty rhetoric and false promises, and are willing to work hard to make sure the anger expressed on the streets this summer is translated into tangible change.

Five groups profiled:

Page 1: Shabab 22 Ab (August 22 Youth)

Page 2: Akkar Manna Mazbale (Akkar is Not a Dumpster)

Page 3: Tolaet Rihitkom (You Stink)

Page 4: Hellou Aanna (Leave us Alone)

Page 5: Bedna Nhasseb (We Want Accountability)

1. Shabab 22 Ab (August 22 Youth)

Stirred by the growing popular movement against this summer’s garbage crisis, a group of young people from Beirut decided to come together to support the larger groups such as You Stink by doing something a little different. After days of informal meetings to bounce ideas back and forth, and following the unprecedented police crackdown on August 22 and 23 on mostly peaceful protesters, the August 22 Youth group was officially formed, Facebook page and all.

Mahmoud Abouzeid, a communication studies graduate and core member of the group, says the catalyst for the official formation of the group was the media’s reaction to a group of youth protesters on August 23 who were labelled as mondaseen, ‘infiltrators’, a derogatory term used to categorize youth from poor, marginalized areas. “Those people are the essence of the protests, they are willing to give everything…they have nothing,” says Abouzeid. And so the group was formed with the aim of offering a different perspective than that put forward by much of the mainstream media.

The group is formed of a dozen or so core members who attend regular meetings, usually three to four times a week, and coordinate with the other groups to plan protests and direct actions. Beyond these core members, new faces come and go, volunteering their time if and when they can. Within the core group, there is no hierarchy or leadership, but each person is assigned a specific role – such as media coordination – to make the group’s work more efficient and organized. Coordination meetings with the other groups happen on a daily basis, though the August 22 Youth group does not always have someone present there, preferring to spend its time on the streets. Financially, Abouzeid says the group is not collecting external donations because it so far has no need for them. Rather, group members donate from their own pockets to pay for things such as printing and posters.

While the group agrees with the demands put forward by other groups, it has chosen also to deal with a slightly different set of priorities. One main focus point is to work closely with Beirut’s most marginalized youth to ensure their voices are heard in this growing movement. They contacted youth from Beirut’s poorer communities following the violent August 23 protest to hear their take on the situation, and created a joint Whatsapp group to keep them involved in their activities. When several youths were arrested following another protest, the August 22 Youth group went down to the police stations where they were being detained to put pressure for their release. Many of these youths don’t know what their rights are before the law, such as the right to a lawyer when detained. The group’s aim, therefore, is to make sure these individuals are informed of their rights as citizens and are made to feel like an active part of society. The group also offered support to the dozen or so who embarked on a two-week hunger strike (eventually called off on September 17), joining them in solidarity for 24 hours and organising a day of music and unity outside the Ministry of Environment where the hunger strikers were camped out.

The August 22 Youth group has in parallel embarked on a full-swing social media awareness-raising campaign. Using their own expertise and equipment, the group has been shooting interviews with youths from various social and religious backgrounds to discover their personal opinions on the movement. The videos are routinely posted online and shared widely around social media to provide an alternative to the mainstream media which Abouzeid says “just picks what it wants to show.” Moreover, it is important that the voices of these youths be acknowledged by the public as being as intrinsic to the movement as those of the well-known leaders from the larger groups. The group would eventually like to turn these interviews into a short documentary about the growing social movement.

[pullquote]The August 22 youth group tries as much as possible to steer the conversation towards action on the ground[/pullquote]

When it comes to coordinating with the other groups, Abouzeid maintains that the August 22 Youth group tries as much as possible to steer the conversation towards action on the ground. Rather than “wasting time by spending seven hours of a meeting arguing over details,” they could be walking the streets and interacting with people instead. This is where cracks in the movement start to show; when egos take over from real community organizing, says Abouzied, the movement will falter.

A more specific aspect of community-organizing the group is involved in concerns the current environmental crisis. The group understands that in many ways the state has especially failed the country’s poorer citizens, and if the garbage crisis is to be solved in these marginalized communities, it is going to have to come from the residents themselves. “We started an awareness campaign with advice from environmental experts,” says Abouzeid. “It’s very detailed but simple to explain to those people in the communities how to recycle. We are working on an animation, baby steps on how to recycle. We contacted people with experience in recycling. Some of them would collect garbage and then sell recyclable plastic [and other materials], making [money] doing this. We wanted to show people that once you decide to do something, you can do it. You can even benefit from [recycling] financially. You start individually, then it moves to your neighbour, then to the neighborhood and eventually to the city. And, ultimately, this is what’s dangerous to the current system. Once people are aware and know how to solve their own problems, that is when the regime will start falling.”

When asked if the group has a coherent political or economical vision for the country, Abouzeid emphasized that, aside from the fact that the group’s members hail from different political backgrounds and therefore there cannot be one distinct ideological vision, the movement itself is far from reaching this stage yet. The youth group is not and does not pretend to be a political party, he says. However, he adds, one way to change the system and tackle corruption would be to reform the electoral law so that citizens could finally vote based on proportionality. A fair voting system would help ensure higher accountability, allowing citizens to put pressure on their elected officials to make sure transparency is enforced, both in the public sphere as well as in the private sector. For now, however, the group’s long term project involves dealing with the country’s waste management, making sure they coordinate simultaneously with the other groups, environmental experts, local municipalities and the public to raise awareness and eventually come to a consensual agreement on how the country’s garbage should be dealt with. “Our aim as a movement should be to achieve a big win,” says Abouzeid, “which will probably be related to the garbage issue. Once we gain this win, we can move on to other demands, such as electricity, and eventually to issues like reforming the electoral law. We need this big first win, however, to gain credibility from the people. This way the people will support us more and, eventually, will move beyond just thinking in sectarian terms. There are other solutions and they can be a part of it.”

The August 22 Youth group is clearly riding a difficult wave; while it wants to be part of the larger movement, its heart lies with the youth in the communities of marginalized neighborhoods. Balancing the two is a challenge, especially when tensions rise and lack of trust between groups and activists is palpable. But reaching a middle ground is the group’s primary concern, says Abouzeid, who insists that individuals in the movement should put their petty differences aside in favour of unity and giving the voice back to the streets.

October 13, 2015 0 comments

Economics & Policy Waste Management

A new trash plan in the pipeline

by Matt Nash October 12, 2015

written by Matt Nash

Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb’s waste management strategy is the equivalent of the central government finally throwing up its hands after years of writing plans it could never implement and telling municipalities, “Fine, you deal with your garbage.” For most of the country, this is not exactly a deviation from the status quo. Outside of Beirut and most of Mount Lebanon (excluding the Jbeil district) – municipalities have been dealing with their own trash. Many have done a very bad job from an environmental and public health perspective. While the country has a 99 percent waste collection rate, some 26 percent of its refuse was open dumped or burned prior to the July 17 closing of Lebanon’s largest sanitary landfill near Naameh, when that percentage substantially increased. An expert who helped draft Chehayeb’s plan – which was written in four days – explains that municipalities will be given training on best international practice, cash to sign contracts for waste solutions and help to write tender documents in preparation for those contracts. When it comes to finding locations for waste treatment and disposal facilities – the barrier that has prevented implementation of modern trash solutions for decades – the expert says “the municipalities will have to decide.”

Back to the drawing board

Since the end of the civil war, Lebanon has not been able to fully implement a single waste management plan. Even the 1997 emergency plan for Beirut and Mount Lebanon – resulting in contracts between the state and Averda companies Sukleen (collection) and Sukomi (treatment and disposal) – was only partially implemented. Sukomi was supposed to receive land to build two composting plants in order to divert 850 tons of organic waste per day from the Naameh landfill. Instead, land was only provided for one, meaning the amount of organics sorted out of the service area’s waste stream stood at 300 tons per day. The emergency plan was clearly not meant to last forever. According to a 2001 report commissioned by the Ministry of Environment, new tender documents for waste collection in the service area were prepared in either 2000 or 2001 – the report is unclear. The report notes, “tender invitations were issued but subsequently aborted as only two bids were received.” During this same time period, the rest of the country was left to deal with its waste however it could. A 2010 report, again commissioned by the Ministry of Environment, notes “austerity measures by the [government] have prevented many municipalities [from planning for and investing in] proper solid waste systems. They typically receive their budgetary allowances from the Independent Municipal Fund (IMF) several years behind schedule and therefore tend to resort to quick solutions and fixes, including open dumping.” Uncontrolled dumping and trash burning pre-dates the war and has never been properly addressed. Between 2003 and 2013, however, four plans were developed to provide nation-wide waste management solutions. None have gone into effect.

Two plans in 2015

When then Prime Minister Najib Mikati resigned in March 2013, there was plenty of unfinished work left behind, including the need to approve a national waste plan focused on building incinerators to turn waste into energy. Eleven months later, a new government was in place and, in short order, a new ministerial committee was tasked with writing yet another waste management plan. Unlike before, however, Prime Minister Tammam Salam’s cabinet this time promised to close the Naameh landfill for good – meaning that to avert a national trash catastrophe, a solution would have to be in place before the scheduled January 2015 closure. The committee was initially due to announce its plan in April 2014. It did not. Minister of Environment Mohammad Machnouk has ignored Executive’s interview requests for the past two months, so the magazine is not sure exactly when the first plan of 2015 was written and agreed to by the committee. However, in March Executive outlined some of the plan’s details based on an interview with Bassam Farhat from the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR). It called for contracting waste management across the country to private companies. The government cancelled the plan in August and is now trying to sell residents and local officials yet another strategy. An expert who helped write the plan – which, as noted above, was done in four days – briefed Executive on its contents on condition of anonymity. Below is a look at how the two compare, referring to the cancelled plan as Plan A and Chehayeb’s strategy as Plan B:

Service areas

Plan A envisioned dividing Lebanon into six service areas, with contractors responsible for deciding how to treat and dispose of waste. The private service providers would have also been required to secure the land needed for facilities (a significant barrier to implementation for previous nation-wide plans, which failed because no one wants to live near said facilities, according to the Ministry of Environment). Decisions about treatment and disposal options were also left to the service providers, with the caveat that only 40 percent of the service area’s waste could be landfilled in the first three years of the seven-year contract, while only 25 percent could be landfilled in the remaining years.

[pullquote]Plan B allows municipalities and municipal unions to agree on their own service areas without central government [/pullquote]

Plan B allows municipalities and municipal unions to agree on their own service areas without central government intervention. The expert explains that once local governments group together into service areas, they would then have to choose how to treat and dispose of the waste in their area. Local governments have the power to decide on how to implement their own visions (i.e., deciding how much private sector involvement to have in trash collection as well as building, operating and maintaining treatment and disposal facilities). The central government would not dictate if or how landfills fit into the mix nor would it have a role in choosing the sites for waste facilities. That all said, the expert notes that if some municipalities refuse to be part of a service area and do not want to handle their own waste, they can appeal to the central government to do it for them.

Timeframe

Plan A demanded service providers have solutions in place within six months of the contracts being signed. Representatives of two of the six companies that won contracts told Executive this would have been a challenge, but each were confident they could meet the criteria, even if their own plans would have had to be implemented in stages (i.e., finding temporary solutions until finalizing construction of treatment facilities that need more time to be built).

Plan B, the expert says, sees new waste management solutions built and operational 18 months from “day zero” – or the date on which the plan gets implemented. At the time of writing, Chehayeb was saying that implementation would hopefully happen soon. Between day zero and full authority by municipalities over waste management, multiple things should happen, according to the expert. First, Naameh will re-open for seven days to receive all recoverable garbage that has piled up in Beirut and most of Mount Lebanon since July 17. Next, the government will cancel two contracts with Sukomi – one covering waste sorting (recycling and composting) and the second for waste disposal (transport to Naameh) – while keeping Sukleen’s collection contract valid for 18 months. During this interim period, waste that is to be recycled, composted or sent to Naameh will be spread across the country (not literally).

Source: Lebanon Environmental Assessment of the Syrian Conflict & Priority Interventions. September 2014, MoE/UNDP/EU

Also from day zero, municipalities will be trained on waste management with a goal to have service areas agreed upon in two or three months, the expert says. Once service areas are agreed, CDR will help municipalities write tender documents for the facilities the municipalities decide to use, with contracts expected to be signed six months from day zero. The expert says facilities should be largely completed one year later, noting “maybe some facilities will take more time.”

As for what happens to Beirut and most of Mount Lebanon’s garbage for 18 months, 1,500 tons per day are planned to be sent to Srar, a village near Lebanon’s northern border with Syria in the Akkar district in the first six months. The expert says there is already an open dump there “receiving around 350 to 400 tons per day from different areas [in] Akkar [but also] from Koura and Batroun.” He says that at the foot of that dump, the plan calls for building a 10,000 square meter sanitary cell for the new waste, which will take two to three months. In the short term, the expert says, ground will be prepared with a sanitary liner to store new waste until the sanitary cell is operational. The fate of the other 1,500 tons is unclear. Days before Chehayeb publicly ruled out one potential site near Masnaa, on Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria, the expert explained that the location is unsuitable due to a shallow aquifer below. While he says he thinks he knows where the second temporary site will be, he declines to publicly name it until a deal with local officials can be struck. The expert says Saida’s mayor also agreed to take 200 tons per day for treatment but notes the mayor later added a demand for a sanitary landfill before taking any more waste. An existing, privately operated treatment plant on the southern coast would welcome the added throughput, Executive reported last month. It is unclear how the government will respond to the mayor’s request. Finally, during the first third of Plan B’s 18-month temporary phase, the expert says the long-closed Bourj Hammoud dump will be rehabilitated similar to how Saida’s waste mountain was razed – build a breakwater in the sea, dump the old trash into it, use the old landfill space as a new, sanitary landfill and, after 12 months, close both and use them as reclaimed green space in the future.

Cost

Plan A’s announced costs caused such an uproar that the government cancelled its plans to sign contracts with private companies for a national waste plan.

[pullquote]If and when Chehayeb’s plan is implemented, the expert agrees there is no shortage of challenges[/pullquote]

Plan B’s long-term solutions, the expert says, will be funded by municipalities based on the plans they choose, so no cost estimate is available. That said, the 18-month temporary phase of the plan is expected to cost $153 million, the expert says. That money will come from cancelling Sukomi’s treatment contract, meaning that the company was being paid $100 million per year for recycling and composting, despite the fact that around 80 percent of the waste collected by sister company Sukleen was landfilled. As noted, Sukleen’s collection contract would remain in place during this phase, and Sukomi would be paid to transport waste to the temporary dumpsites. The expert did not have an estimated cost for trucking garbage to diverse points around the country, but notes it is included in the total $153 million price tag for the 18-month phase. That total, however, is not inclusive of potential cost overruns, and the coincidence of savings from cancelling Sukomi’s contracts almost exactly matching the plan’s price seems perhaps too convenient.

Treatment

Plan A left treatment decisions (recycling, incineration, composting, etc.) up to private service providers. Those plans were revealed to policy makers in the bids, but never made public.

Plan B leaves long-term treatment decisions up to municipalities. As noted, however, the recycling and composting Sukomi was doing will be halted during the 18-month temporary phase of the plan. The expert says that European Union money delivered to Lebanon to be used, in part, to convert the Srar open dump into a sanitary landfill can be re-purposed instead to build recycling and composting facilities in Akkar, but this is not guaranteed.

Moving forward

If and when Chehayeb’s plan is implemented, the expert agrees there is no shortage of challenges – getting municipalities to work together in service areas and choosing treatment and disposal sites being the largest barriers. “The plan is not trouble-free,” the expert admits. “The transition period is very difficult and the sustainable part might lead to some failures in some areas and successes in others.”

October 12, 2015 0 comments

Life

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL GAME

by Olga Habre October 11, 2015

written by Olga Habre

In the past few months, there has been continuous effort at grassroots level to fan the flames of interest in Lebanon’s video gaming industry. In a bid to bring together those with the desire to build games and share ideas about launching and monetising products, MEGAplay, the brainchild of AltCity, has emerged as a support group for this small creative community. The project started with seed support from the Netherlands Embassy in Lebanon, and the group states that it “works with various partners to organize activities, events, competitions, and more.”

These events are frequent and open to everyone and anyone with an interest in gaming. To complement their lectures, discussions and workshops, MEGAplay in September hosted a ‘game jam’; 48 hours of non-stop game programing judged by a panel from Lebanon’s Wixel Studios. Powered by an endless stream of cake, coffee, and naps on the sofa, eight teams set up camp in AltCity for an entire weekend, and competed in the event to produce a game which reflected the theme of ‘light and dark’. Given the task on Friday night, teams were required to brainstorm a premise and design, and spend the rest of the weekend implementing their ideas on a chosen development platform.

Although some contestants chose to take a break and spend the nights at home, many camped out on the sofas around AltCity, fully dedicating themselves to the game jam experience.Throughout the weekend teams interpreted the themes differently, with some taking on ambitious projects to develop a full scale game and others choosing to focus on full development, with sound and music, of a single level. The judging panel had required teams to demonstrate ‘light and dark’ in any creation, and a variety of products were developed. Groovy Antoid, a three -man team, designed the 2D game ‘Doom Sprout’, with a vine growing between two skyscrapers, drawn towards a light source operated by the player. The object of the game was to eat as many humans as possible leaning out of the tower windows, whilst avoiding those wielding chainsaws. ‘Blink Reflex’ was produced by one man team Hosni Auji and incorporated a timing element into the gameplay, requiring the player to collect tokens within a head before the human owner blinked and turned the screen dark. Other teams ventured into 3D, with T-Sleye using game designer Unreal Engine 4 to build ‘Glow’, a pitch-black maze through which an illuminated runner moves and collects batteries in order to remain lit.

Raja Riachi, MEGAplay coordinator at AltCity was extremely pleased with the event, saying that, “People showed creativity and enthusiasm, and I felt that people adapted quickly to the rhythm dictated by the game jam.” Several teams were formed on the Friday night, as participants signed up for the event as individuals and without any previous experience in game development. “What is really impressive” adds Riachi, “is that not only did people work well as teams, despite never collaborating, but also those without game programming experience still managed to have a product to demonstrate to the judging panel”.

Riachi added that the next round of game jams, which he wants to become a future recurring event, will learn from the round in September. “This was meant to be a test run for people to get used to the vibe. We’ll be adding a competitive element next time”. He also addressed the gender disparity of the all-male competing teams, and hoped to attract more women to future MEGAplay game jams with the initiatives AltCity are running in future months. “We’ll be working with women in the industry to ensure more women get involved, starting with a Women in Gaming talk scheduled in October.” Timely, as the next game jam is scheduled for the weekend of 13 November.

October 11, 2015 0 comments

Hospitality & Tourism Recycling

Upcycling

by Nabila Rahhal October 8, 2015

written by Nabila Rahhal

Whether it’s a plowing truck re-used as a makeshift bar stool, or a door frame re-used as a table, most of the furniture and objects used in Junkyard, Mario Haddad Junior’s hip bar-restaurant in Mar Mikhael, are creative reconceptualizations of junk items developed by local designer Rami el Khazen. The remaining items, such as the cutlery, napkins, placemats and some furniture were brought from restaurants that have shut down.

The idea of upcycling first came to Haddad during the summer of 2012 when he launched a pop up concept in the same spot which now houses Junkyard. Not wanting to invest too much financially into a concept that was only meant to be operational for a few months, Haddad chose instead to reuse and upcycle, furnishing the open air outlet with tables and chairs from his old restaurants which had closed down and re-using common household and junk items in creative ways for the decor.

The style received such positive feedback from customers that when Haddad decided to make Junkyard a permanent outlet, he stuck with the upcycling concept. Today, Junkyard is housed in 14 shipping containers opened up to create one space under a glass and iron dome. The concept of upcycling became even more creative with the installation of the permanent structure, and even events held at Junkyard today, such as the recent ABBA and Bob Marley nights, use upcycled or reused items to decorate.

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure,” quips Dana Alaywan, the marketing and communication manager at Hands On, the back office management services company behind Junkyard. She explains that the reuse of items from restaurants that have closed down helps contribute to the decrease of waste as well as the decrease of new items being produced in the long term.

Alaywan says that while upcycling and reusing are more affordable than buying readymade items, they require a lot of creativity, effort and research time. Nevertheless, Alaywan continues, once the team became accustomed to the idea of reusing, they got very involved in it and found it fun, incorporating upcycling in their daily routine both at home and at work. Customers as well, explains Alaywan, love the idea behind Junkyard, recommending it to their friends as an original and creative space to dine at.

Junkyard’s commitment to environmentally friendly practices does not stop at upcycling and reusing. The outlet also recycles its plastic, metal and paper waste through an agreement with Sukleen. Moreover, it is looking into investing in a machine that would compost food waste into fertilizer. “If we do manage to buy the machine, we would ideally like to place it in the parking lot for people to see and also to encourage our surrounding community to participate by putting in their own food waste. This way we would not only reduce the food waste generated by us and our community, but we would also benefit farmers by providing them with the fertilizer,” enthuses Alaywan, adding that they are currently trying to identify a sponsor, since, at an average cost of 23,000 euros, the machine is not cheap.

“Every little action towards environmental friendly practices from each one of us matters – that is how change happens,” concludes Alaywan, adding that Junkyard was an ecofriendly outlet even before the waste crisis in Lebanon broke out, and will continue to be so in the future.

October 8, 2015 0 comments

Hospitality & Tourism Recycling

It’s all in the packaging

by Nabila Rahhal October 8, 2015

written by Nabila Rahhal

Whoever tends to have food delivered by one of the many Food and Beverage (F&B) outlets in Lebanon will have grown accustomed to the sight of heaps of plastic or cardboard containers, boxes, bags and utensils used to package and serve their meals and meal accompaniments, all designed to deliver the food in an efficient, convenient and aesthetically pleasing way.

Accentuated by the recent waste management crisis engulfing Lebanon, customers are often left feeling uneasy at the sight of so much trash being generated simply by having meals delivered. Some restaurant operators in Lebanon have felt the same, understanding that they are contributing to the problem by generating so much plastic waste through packaging. As a result, some have wisely chosen to use ecologically friendly packaging instead.

Inspired by the recent surge of interest in recycling, upcycling and reusing in Lebanon, Executive talked to two restaurants who use eco-friendly packaging in their delivery and in-house services to discover what sparked their interest in adopting these practices, what difficulties they have faced and what the customer response has been thus far.

Introducing Bento and biodegradable packaging

Bento, meaning lunchbox in Japanese, is a contemporary international cuisine restaurant next to the Adlieh roundabout which opened four months ago and is the brainchild of Joyce Badran, an engineer with a background in environmental sciences. Bento is Badran’s first venture in the F&B business, grounded in her passion for cooking with a menu developed based on inspiration from her world travels.

The core of Bento’s operation is its delivery service and as such Badran has given a lot of thought to packaging. “I focused on packaging because I used to order a lot of food when I was working in Lebanon and everything used to arrive in plastic. I didn’t like that and felt bad throwing so much unrecyclable plastic away. So I worked on finding packaging that can be recycled,” says Badran.

Bento’s salads, appetizers and soups come in recyclable heavy duty carton while the utensils are made of wood. Sandwiches and bagels come in biodegradable plastic bags and all meals are delivered in kraft paper boxes and bags. The only items Badran uses plastic packaging for are the hot dishes such as pastas, since the only carton containers for hot dishes she was able to find in Lebanon leaked while on delivery to customers.

Introducing Jars & Co: food items in glass jars

Claude Berti, owner of Jars & Co, is a jeweler by profession with no prior experience in F&B before the launch of Jars & Co in Monot, Ashrafieh, over a year ago. While Berti was browsing online, she was inspired by the different uses for glass jars and came up with the idea of serving salads in jars. “Eating salads out of a jar means that people can shake it, thus mixing the dressing with the entire salad and having the salad items properly mixed together instead of having to eat each item alone,” says Berti, adding that another bonus is that the jars are eco friendly, an aspect that solidified her decision to use them for her new F&B concept.

From salads, Jars & Co developed into having all kinds of food items served in jars, including pasta and appetizers. Environmentally friendly packaging continued with other items on the Jars & Co menu, such as bagels and wraps delivered in kraft paper and jars and the delivery bags also made of kraft paper.

Recently, and in an effort to encourage further recycling and reusing, Jars & Co launched a loyalty card system whereby if customers return six jars, they get a salad for free. The returned jars are sterilized and then reused. Customers who instead choose to keep the jars find many alternative uses for them in their daily life.

Supplying environmentally friendly packaging

Both Berti and Badran explain that since the concept of eco-friendly packaging is not common in Lebanon, they had difficulty locating the right suppliers for their needed items. While globally, trends and ideas for environmentally friendly packaging are well developed, in Lebanon the efficiency and cost effectiveness of plastic packaging still triumphs, explain the two ladies.

[pullquote]“THE LEBANESE ARE NOW MORE AWARE OF THE DAMAGES THAT UNNECESSARY PACKAGING HAVE ON THE ENVIRONMENT”[/pullquote]

Berti says it took her three months to locate a supplier who would be able to consistently provide her with jars with the exact dimensions she wanted, while Badran recounts how she had to bring the first supply of wooden utensils – 2,000 pieces – with her in a suitcase from France as she wasn’t able to locate a supplier for those items in Lebanon at first. “I met hundreds of suppliers who didn’t have what I wanted so I got the wooden utensils from abroad instead. Eventually I met with a supplier in HORECA who was able to get them for me,” says Badran.

The price of helping the environment

Badran says wooden utensils are three times more expensive than plastic ones and both ladies agree that their packaging is at least slightly more expensive than the plastic variety. Yet, their food items are priced on a par with other restaurants of the same quality (a salad at Jars & Co costs a maximum of $10 while a gourmet sandwich at Bento is priced at an average of $7).

To compensate for the slightly more expensive packaging, Berti explains that the novelty of serving food in a jar, coupled with the do-good feeling of being kind to the environment that comes with ordering from restaurants with minimal packaging, brings an increase in customer traffic and therefore revenue.

Customer response

While those with an environmental consciousness have supported and encouraged the two restaurants from the start, both owners agree that the recent increase in awareness about the dangers of excessive waste generation has attracted more business and support for enterprises such as their own.

“The Lebanese are now more aware of the damages that unnecessary packaging have on the environment and almost 90 percent of my customers are actively voicing out their support for the packaging I use,” says a pleased Badran.

Although some people are still not used to the idea of using wooden utensils, accusing them of having a strange taste, or to carton and paper packaging thinking it looks cheap, Badran says she ignores such comments as she is focusing on the long term towards the future wellbeing of the planet.

Being environmentally friendly is not a passing trend. As the Lebanese move towards an increased awareness of the importance of protecting their land by recycling, reusing and upcycling, Executive hopes to see more restaurants and other F&B outlets take the environment into consideration when it comes to waste generation.

October 8, 2015 2 comments

New Food Concepts

Bibayti

by Sara Ghorra October 8, 2015

written by Sara Ghorra

There is no greater form of hospitality than that of welcoming people into your sanctuary, the comfort of your home. This tradition was once embedded in the lives of most Lebanese who would keep their houses’ front doors constantly open to welcome visitors. With the passing of time and the shift in priorities in our increasingly busy lives, our front doors open less frequently. Now, it is only occasionally that we receive guests, let alone host brunches, lunches and dinner parties in the privacy of our houses.
Most people have become hard-working professionals whose leisure time is too precious for them to spend in the kitchen cooking. That is why when they want to treat themselves to a fancy meal, whether alone or in company, they either go to one of the many restaurants that Beirut’s hospitality scene has to offer, or request the services of a catering company renown for delivering succulent food.
Nothing trumps a cozy gathering in one’s humble abode. It not only offers a unique charm but also a certain value. Family feels loved, friends feel appreciated and acquaintances or business relations feel respected. This is why a couple of Lebanese entrepreneurs have decided to implement a business model that would surely encourage people to go back to hosting the good old-fashioned way.
Fadi Kharrat and Jean Fares are initially engineers who specialized respectively in Design & Contracting and Management Consulting. They are also food lovers who really enjoy hosting people and holding get-togethers. When they stumbled upon a video illustrating a concept of chef-at-home, one that they knew to be foreign to the country according to their own experience, they immediately became inspired to customize and apply it within the Lebanese market. Soon after, they were joined by a third partner, Makram Raydan, the man behind the start-up’s web development. Hence the design of ‘BiBayti’, which literally means ‘in my home’ and so perfectly embodies the venture’s primary theme.
Indeed, BiBayti’s chief aim is to turn receptions in one’s home into a hassle-free and enjoyable experience thanks to the services of a talented culinary artist who would be solely responsible for all aspects of the meal served on that occasion. From picking and buying the necessary ingredients beforehand, to preparing and cooking the meal in-house, to crafting the food display and presenting the recipes to the guests; all would be handled by a talented cook, taking the edge off the host in the best possible way.
BiBayti.com is an online platform that links individuals who wish to host any type of event in their homes to a wide array of chefs and cooks, whose singular recipes have been personally designed. The soon-to-be launched website is expected to be simple and user friendly. One side of BiBayti.com will be the host’s platform, where hosts are invited to select the type of the event (brunch, lunch, dinner), the preferred date, as well as the area of their home. Once that is confirmed, they will start browsing the different personal menus pertaining to the various professional chefs and amateur cooks. The latter would have also specified their availabilities during a typical week.
The other side will be the chefs’ and cooks’ back end of the website. Each of them presents a description of themself and their specialties (with photos that give the host a good idea of the recipes’ presentation), a copy of one or more of their individually engineered and detailed menus, in addition to the pricing relative to the number of people each recipe can accommodate. Communication between parties starts as soon as the hosts make their selection. Slight modifications to the menu can occur after this selection, both in terms of quantity and specific ingredients.
Finally, an e-payment is made prior to the event so that the assigned chef can start planning their purchases in preparation for D-Day. However, and this is one of the instances where BiBayti management exercises its behind-the-scene control, the e-payment is blocked until 24 to 48 hours following the event, during which the management collects the needed feedback regarding the event. After making sure the host’s expectations are met, the payment is then wired to the relevant chef.
As asserted by the partners, this set-up would guarantee fairness vis-à-vis both parties. The cooks won’t have to worry about shenanigans that could occur in such situations, and the hosts would feel protected from unfortunate surprises. Needless to mention, BiBayti’s cancellation policy allows for a certain period of time for the host to retract and cancel their reservation of the chef in question.
Yet, BiBayti.com management’s mission extends beyond matching people and monitoring the service revolving around its platform. Through their new online venture, the partners want to announce as many of the amateur cooks to the greater public as possible, as well as provide easier access to the professional chefs among them, the direct result of which also being the discovery of many new tastes and flavors.
But most importantly, by introducing that special experience to people’s homes, they are hoping to create a very different type of interaction between culinary artists and the individuals they are serving. Most of the time, people relishing a certain meal do not have the opportunity to meet the chef behind the food they taste, whether in a restaurant or at some venue in which a caterer provides the cuisine.
BiBayti’s principal objective is for hosts to delight in the presence of their appointed chefs and benefit from their presence not only as cooks, but more as enlightening entertainers sharing a passion embodied in the several intricate recipes they are serving.
One cannot be anything but excited about the launch of BiBayti’s website in the coming weeks as it will undoubtedly incite the hospitable ones among us to finally start planning that event they have been continuously postponing!

October 8, 2015 0 comments

Wellness

Donner Sang Compter

by Sara Ghorra October 8, 2015

written by Sara Ghorra

In the span of less than seven years, Donner Sang Compter (DSC) – a Lebanese non-profit NGO that links potential blood donors to patients in urgent need – has directly contributed to saving around 60,000 lives.
DSC was founded in January 2009 by then 23-year-old Yorgui Teyrouz, who was urged to act when he witnessed how blood shortages in hospitals directly contributed to the deaths of patients whose lives could have otherwise been spared. Teyrouz’s personal endeavor actually began in 2007 as an informal online search for donors among his circle of friends and family. A year later his work had culminated into a database which includes several thousand donors and their respective blood types. In August 2015, five years after the official registration of the NGO, the number of donors had reached 15,000.
Indeed, this small yet exceptionally dynamic organization is helping to cover more than 10 percent of the nationwide demand for blood units today, thanks to both its effective call center that connects patients to donors, as well as the rising number of blood drives it conducts with the aim of eliminating shortages at Lebanese hospitals. Moreover, it is heavily promoting and raising awareness about voluntary blood donation, with the goal of making the experience a rewarding one for participants.
From its founding until early 2015, DSC’s method of bridging donors and patients consisted of gathering and sharing information. Those in need of blood to help friends or relatives would contact the NGO with a request for a specific blood type and other details about the situation, including the type of operation required and the quantity of blood units needed as per the hospital’s request. In turn, DSC representatives at the call center would share a limited number of donor names from their database in waves, enabling the patient’s relatives to contact as many potential donors as possible until the demand was met. Once donors confirmed their ability and willingness to donate, DSC would personally follow-up with them.
“DSC’s system was fairly basic, undeniably effective, yet relatively unethical,” confesses DSC’s president Teyrouz. “But it was either that or nothing. We didn’t have the necessary funds to cover the costs that would have been incurred had we done otherwise.” Yet, with people’s increasing reliance on DSC for blood, the NGO’s responsibility towards the community grew. Therefore, as of August 2015, a different system was put in place along with updated technology. “The new method will consist of centralizing the calls. DSC will be handling all communication between parties and its primary tool will be Whatsapp. We found that to be the most effective model in terms of practicality, time effectiveness and cost saving,” states Teyrouz.
Although the current number of donors registered in DSC appears to be relatively high, Teyrouz says that it should be significantly higher because the growing demand is exceeding supply. DSC found two ways to remedy the situation.
First, it will focus on increasing its personal reserve of blood units through a new strategy of scheduled blood donations. Instead of only responding to emergencies and trying to find blood units according to incoming calls, DSC will establish a method of continuous follow-up with its donors to maximize the number of blood units donated over a shorter period of time in less time. This type of stock monitoring will allow DSC to be better prepared to handle emergencies and be more aware of the amount of blood units it can provide straight away. This way, its call center will function more efficiently.
Secondly, DSC will keep focusing on its blood drives, which will in turn help hospitals meet their demand. “In 2014 we were able to conduct 125 blood drives from which alone we gathered 6,000 blood units,” says Teyrouz. Since DSC’s representatives are not allowed to perform blood transfusions themselves, the NGO needs to borrow the services of qualified nurses from the hospital for which they are conducting the blood drive. Indeed, each blood drive contributes to filling the stock of each respective hospital for the current demand period, which increases for the next period of time. That time frame can be a maximum of two weeks or only a few days, depending on that hospital’s size and needs.
However, DSC is doing much more than simply filling stocks when it conducts blood drives. One of its chief goals is to change people’s perception, as well as the experience, of giving blood. DSC is doing its utmost to turn the act of donating blood into a rewarding experience rather than a dreadful chore, and one that donors might actually look forward to.
The way it achieves this is by choosing agreeable locations for the drives, and making the process as easy and comfortable as possible. DSC’s members make it a point to explain the procedure to donors and create a positive atmosphere by entertaining and rewarding them with snacks and refreshments when they are finished.
“People are usually reluctant to go to hospitals or blood centers to donate blood, as they perceive them to be sad and austere places. That is why we try to conduct as many of the blood drives either in people’s ‘natural habitat’ such as their office or university, or out in the open in refreshing outdoor spaces,” claims Teyrouz.
DSC, which is run by a team of highly driven and dedicated individuals, always seeks to improve its approach. Its newest project, the ‘Collecte Mobile’, will allow the organization to conduct traveling blood drives. Thanks to the Global Blood Fund’s donation in 2014 (The GBF is an international charitable organization that provides equipment, training, grants and other forms of support to help struggling blood collectors worldwide), DSC will soon be roaming the country with a bus it plans on renovating and fully equipping for the best blood donation experience one could have in Lebanon. Renovating and equipping the bus was made possible after a successful crowd funding initiative, which took place in July-August 2015. Hopefully, it won’t be long before it hits the road!
One cannot but respect and admire an organization such as DSC, which is built on a strong desire to serve the community without expecting any form of remuneration, save the humble gratification that comes with helping others.
Donating blood A is irrefutably one of the most significant charitable acts one could ever do and there is nothing more rewarding to a human being than the knowledge that a part of them was shared with another in an attempt to save their life. Yet, that deed has even more substance when the donor does not know the recipient’s identity…That it where true humanity lies.
“Give Blood. Give Life” is Donner Sang Compter’s slogan, and, as it rightfully states, “Be a hero!”

October 8, 2015 0 comments

Design

Officine Panerai

by Sara Ghorra October 8, 2015

written by Sara Ghorra

It comes as little surprise that with the coming of smartphones most people have stripped themselves of those old age address books, notebooks, calendars, recorders and even cameras, since having all those things embedded in a single device undoubtedly makes life much easier.
Even wristwatches have become dispensable – why would anybody need one when the first thing they notice when looking at their phone’s screen is the time of day? Having said that, the watch is one accessory that many are still reluctant to let go of, not out of necessity but out of a desire to make a statement.
One could assume that most people who adorn their wrist with a watch aim to convey a subtle message through their choice, be it in terms of their personal style, interests or status.
For example, people who choose to wear a Panerai opt for an imposing yet stark look; they have a strong connection to the sea and are clearly willing to spend several thousand dollars on their prized timepieces. Most importantly, Panerai lovers are watch connoisseurs who have been charmed not just by the watch, but by the brand as a whole.
Officine Panerai defines itself as a “natural blend of Italian design, Swiss technology and passion for the sea” according to the company website.
Originally named G.Panerai & Figlio, it was first established in Italy in 1860 when founder Giovanni Panerai opened his watchmaker’s shop (one that also served as the city’s first watchmaking school) on Ponte alle Grazie in Florence. The company was renamed in 1972 to Officine Panerai S.r.l.
Since its inception over a century ago, the company dealt mainly with the Royal Italian Navy, and then in 1956 with the Egyptian Navy. That is why it created models that were designed to serve the evolving needs and requirements of navy personnel.
Panerai’s core watch models include Radiomir and Luminor. The Radiomir was first produced in 1938 and then enhanced in 1940. It was characterized by a large steel case and luminescent numerals and marks (thanks to a radium-based powder that gives off brightness) with the aim of providing better visibility underwater.
The Radiomir is a hand-wound mechanical watch that was designed to be waterproof and resistant to extreme tension. In 1950 came the second model Luminor, a different version of the earlier model, principally distinguished by the use of a new glowing powder of the same name.
It wasn’t until 1993 that Panerai introduced the first collection of limited edition watches to the public. The year 1997 was a defining moment for the brand after the Richemont Group (then Vendome Group) acquired and unveiled the company. It has since become a recognizable player in the international fine watchmaking market especially after the opening, in 2002, of its manufacturing plant Panerai Manufacture in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, where it started developing its own calibers and in-house movements as of 2005.
As the company’s notoriety and customer base continues to grow, Officine Panerai makes a point of staying faithful to its original designs and prefers to refine its technical features by revisiting the mechanisms of its traditional models. Unlike other brands, it offers a limited number of pieces to the public every year. It is the consistency in the brand’s design, coupled with its exclusive feel, that makes it even more appealing to its clientele.
“Our watches have an identity,” states Officine Panerai’s Managing Director for Middle East, Turkey and India, Mr. Milvin George in an interview with Executive. “We don’t follow the trend; we want to stay close to our roots and our brand DNA”.
One of Panerai’s boldest traits is its distinguished and well-defined brand identity. Instead of investing in traditional advertising, the brand works on attracting audiences with a similar interest in the sea, art and, last but not least, luxury goods.
Ever since the brand was first introduced to the public in 1993, its connection to the sea was made paramount when the collection was presented aboard the Durand De La Penne Italian Navy cruiser.
From that moment on, Panerai has often participated in events echoing this passion for the sea. For instance, in 2009, it acquired and restored the famous Eilean, a 1936 yacht designed by one of the most legendary yacht builders in the history of sailing, William Fife III. After three years of work, Panerai launched it at the sailing section of the Italian Navy in La Spezia. Panerai has also sponsored one of the biggest events in the world of classic sailing over the past ten years, the Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge.
At the same time as being a brand that offers handmade watches which rely on sturdy craftsmanship, Panerai has also developed an affinity with the art world and is increasingly incorporating artwork association into its brand strategy. Some of Panerai’s most noticeable collaborations include the India Art Fair, with which it has partnered for seven years, as well as the Beirut Art Fair, which it will participate in for the second time in September 2015.
For some, seeing only variations of a model that is decades old might seem like a flaw. But for those looking for a timepiece brand that is instantly recognizable by like-minded watch connoisseurs, the value of which will probably appreciate with time, a Panerai is a watch worth considering adding to one’s collection.

October 8, 2015 0 comments

Comment Opinion

Rethinking governance

by Sami Atallah October 7, 2015

written by Sami Atallah

The recent garbage crisis has managed to expose a myriad of problems which exist in our political system. Among these is the failure of the government not only to properly deliver a basic service like waste collection, but to decide how to deliver such a service through a transparent, collaborative process. In other words, the problem is not only the outcome but the actual process, which is a key determinant of good and effective service delivery. Often, the more transparent, accountable, and inclusive a decision-making process is, the better the service is in terms of price and quality. The less transparent decision making is, the worse off the result.

With the government’s failure to provide waste collection services—generally considered to be a relatively straightforward exercise—one can only wonder how it will be able to manage a complex sector like oil and gas, which has several stakeholders with varying interests at different stages of the value chain.

Concerns of corruption

Despite being a latecomer to the Levant Basin, Lebanon moved fairly quickly in the process. The parliament passed the offshore law in 2010 and set up the Lebanese Petroleum Administration (LPA), which prepared the bidding-related decrees, only to fall prey to Lebanon’s decision-making quagmire.

The LPA, whose members mirror the sectarian representation of the country, with a one-year presidential rotation for each of its six members, failed to assuage political elites’ fears of losing influence over the sector. In April 2014, the government set up a ministerial committee to advise the government on how to proceed with the oil and gas sector, hence duplicating the role of the LPA. If the committee’s work is to ensure that the LPA is performing well, one wonders why they have only managed to meet twice and have kept the process closed to the public, thereby raising more concerns as opposed to easing public fears of corruption.

Furthermore, the problem does not rest only with the executive body. The illegitimate parliament has also failed to play its role in asking the government where it stands on the development of the sector. In fact, some MPs have shown they have little interest in and knowledge about the sector. This is worrisome as they ought to play a major role in establishing the sector and ensuring that it will be properly managed.

A change in structure

Some have argued that the sector will remain paralyzed in the absence of a president and a new government. Unfortunately, this thinking is flawed. The formation of a new government and swearing in of a president will only give a semblance of normalcy in a country where such a state of affairs generally leads to collusion among the political elite at the expense of citizens’ welfare.

[pullquote]Some MPs have shown they have little interest in and knowledge about the sector[/pullquote]

What Lebanon needs is a different governing structure where state institutions are actually functioning, transparent, inclusive, and accountable. The challenge we face is beyond the LPA. We need a responsible government that is able to put a petroleum policy in place and put it up to debate among the wider public. We need it to actually address the two decrees that are collecting dust. Equally important, we need it to launch a broad consultative process to reach a consensus on how to manage our natural resources. We need a parliament that cares to ask the executive body where it stands and why progress in the sector has been delayed. We need oversight agencies to be equipped to deal with a very complex sector that involves international oil companies, whose resources and capabilities can overwhelm the country’s institutions. We need a judiciary prepared to properly enforce contracts that include service companies as well. We need the LPA to institutionalize the consultation process with the wider public as well as make public its decisions that are relayed to the government.

In the meantime, the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, as a think tank and part of the civil society community, needs to be ready to engage in the process, inform the public, and monitor the government. We, along with other civil society organisations, must create enough pressure to ensure that the government is held accountable, that the bidding process is transparent, and that contracts are sufficiently disclosed.

The fall in oil prices by half, which makes deep water extraction less profitable, may provide Lebanon with a chance to postpone the development of the sector and reconsider its governing structure. The big question is: Will the political elite have the wisdom to restructure institutions so they become more effective or will they keep undermining institutions so the elite can try to benefit from the mess they are creating? If the latter is more likely than the former, then we must be very aware of the dangers that face us and ready to face the oil tsunami that could very well bury us all.

October 7, 2015 1 comment