Waste Management in Lebanon—Tripoli Case Study

Abstract

Lebanon appears as the bad student in solid waste management (SWM) in Middle East Region, varying techniques of SWM is currently practiced in different parts of the country, a comprehensive approach to SWM in Lebanon is still now virtually absent, slow burning and uncontrolled dumping on hillsides and seashores are still common methods practiced for solid waste disposal. Except SWM in the Greater Beirut Area (GBA), solid waste continues to be managed in a manner that is not protective of either human health and/or the environment. Even in the extended GBA, serious questions are raised about the policy commitments to promoting and eventually requiring sustainable and environmentally friendly SWM practices. Tripoli (second city and capital of North Lebanon) is facing an environmental disaster; the actual landfill is over saturated and can collapse in any moment causing dangerous damage in the environment. Landfill must be closed in 2012, but continue to dump waste in reason of lack an alternative new site. Certainly, the trend will be changing and there will a great deal of effort to develop integrated SWM systems for most areas in Lebanon, particularly large urban areas. These efforts center on the construction of controlled sanitary landfills in combination with sorting, recycling, and composting facilities or waste-to-energy systems (incinerator or biological anaerobic plant).