Presidential Blog

Municipal wastewater sludge has become an issue of concern in Lebanon with the expansion of the numerous municipal wastewater treatment plants that have been put into operation. As an initial provision, the sludge was assumed to be sent to landfills for final disposal. However, the high amount of daily sludge generated, have imposed a serious […] Read More

During the beginning of this months, hundreds of fish were found dead along the sides of Lebanon’s biggest artificial lake (lake Qaraoun) within the Bekaa Valley. This is not something common at the lake, and thus there is no precedent practice/procedure to follow. Accordingly, a search for potential solutions started and many environmentalists started proposing […] Read More

The solid waste sector has evolved internationally towards capitalizing on resources and material through various practices at the account of final disposal. This practice is known as circularity or circular economy. It starts from the production of material, where single use products, are replaced by reusable or recyclable products, to reduction of waste generation, to […] Read More

When we look back at year 2020, for us in Lebanon, four main incidents come to mind, economic crisis, Covid-19 pandemic, national lockdowns, and Port of Beirut explosion. The combination of these four incidents resulted in an economic recession that resulted in the closure of many business, a 48.5% decrease in imports compared to previous […] Read More

When we look at the municipal solid waste characterization in Lebanon, organic waste is usually in the range of 50% while plastics and cardboard/paper add-up to approximately 30%, while the remaining material combined form approximately 20%. So, when we are to consider municipal solid waste reduction, we should first focus on the two main leading […] Read More

Approximately, four months and ten days have passed since the devastating Port of Beirut explosion, and despite all the efforts limited action has taken place. Based on various rapid and initial assessment studies conducted by Municipality of Beirut, local consulting companies, International entities (EU, UNDP and World Bank), there are hundreds of thousands of CDW […] Read More

Circular Economy is the latest international solid waste strategy following the green and blue economies that preceded it. Circular economy in principle aims at capitalizing on resources within the waste streams by circulating their use at the account of final disposal. On the other hand Lebanon in its current waste management schemes is far away […] Read More

Perhaps George Santayana said it best in his quote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. It has been evident that most of the solid waste crisis that occurred over the past 30 years in Lebanon are due to the ongoing centralized waste management system covering approximately half of the quantities […] Read More

Beirut experienced on the 4th of the August 2020 a massive explosion destroying structures and glass at a radius that stretched for several Kilometers. Its vibration and echo went beyond 100 Km being felt and heard throughout the entire country and beyond to reach Cyprus more than 175 Km away. The destruction was massive, the […] Read More