The incompetent ways of the Lebanese government to deal with the trash crisis has forced Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan to take actions. He is planning to file a complaint with the European Commission if the problem will not be addressed.
Because of the crisis, the government is planning to open a landfill in Costa Brava which is located in Choueifat in south Beirut. Another landfill will also be opened in Burj Hammoud and the temporary reopening of the Naameh landfill which is located south of the capital.
Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan said the government only gave the people two options and that is to leave the trash to accumulate in their villages or accept opening a landfill in their areas. Arslan was accompanied by agriculture minister Akram Chehayeb and health minister Wael Abu Faour.
Arslan first denied the idea of opening a landfill in Choueifat but he decided to agree due to the increasing temperature which basically can cause an outbreak of diseases, as per the Daily Star.
According to CBC, the trash crisis began in July when the country's main landfill in Naameh was closed with no alternative landfill to take its place. The residents in Naameh said that the dump was over capacitated and they are blocking the roads to prevent garbage trucks to reach the area and add more garbage to it.
The cabinet has already approved a plan that is aimed at the reopening of Naameh landfill for two months and the Costa Brava and Burj Hammoud landfills for four years as a temporary solution. As reported by the Business Insider, Minister Ramzi Jreij said the reopening of Naameh will take in tens of thousands of tons of trash that have been accumulated around the country.
Arslan, on the other hand, said there are several waste treatment proposals that were already given to the government to look into which included a recycling plant on a land in Choueifat to treat the waste rather than burying it.
He added that the government has a 50,000 square meters of land which can be used to treat waste properly but they refused to utilize it. The southern suburbs of Beirut and the surrounding towns in the Aley district are producing 1,100 tons of waste a day.
