Lebanon's toxic waste

In some way, Beirut's garbage may well prove toxic. To the Lebanese government.
By A. ALABED

It is not exactly rocket science to provide a municipal waste collection sytem. Yet Lebanese prime minister Tammam Salam needed a wake-up call to even start thinking about a solution to a crisis that has been stifling Lebanon for well five months now. Today several hundred protesters abruptly terminated the PM's nightsleep, when in early morning they showed up at its Beiruti resident demanding an instant solution to a problem that begins to pose a serious health issue.

Nadia, medicine student from Bauchrieh neighborhood, fears the emergence of pestilences such as cholera as heavy rainfalls exacerbate the problem, "On some days you cannot even smoke a cigarette on the balcony without feeling the instant urge to throw up. What really worries me though is that I am in no way certain that we have the capacity to combat a potential epidemic, since our medical infrastructure is rather poor and chronically overcharged."

Especially lower social strata are prone to fall victim to infectious desease, as many of the dwellings in Beirut's more impecunious suburbs lack basic hygiene facilities. This is especially true for those areas that in recent months have experienced a massive influx of Syrian refugges not only from Syria itself, but also from Beqaa valley towns and refugee camps close to the Syrian border.

One of the most severely affected areas is the notorious Palestinian refugee camp Shatila in Beirut's South. Muhammad, third-generation Palestinian refugee, says that the Lebanese government should or provide adequate infrastructure and services or refrain from administering the camp at all: "I think that, along with the Syrians, many of which like us are well-trained and highly-educated, we can build a better-working system than the Lebanese authorities."

Given the current level, the odds are high that he's right. The situation in Shatila is dire; residents experience the twenty-four seven ordeal of living in the middle of a giant dump, many of them, espacially newly-arrived Syrians, without a roof over their head. A health crisis is in the offing. Additionally lately suspicion has been growing that the authorities reluctance to tackle the problem is related to diffuse allegations of corruption that despite all dementis by government officials could indeed contain a modicum of truth.

Given that it is not exactly rocket science to provide a functioning muncipal waste system, we do not know which of the two possible reasons for Lebanon once again being unable to fulfill the most basic duties of a state. That officials are involved in corruption or dismayingly incompetent. Muhammad is convinced of the first one, Nadia of the latter: "I give them one last chance to fulfill their duties and frame a serious and coherent policy. Otherwise I might be tempted to change my mind."

Many other Beirutis seem to agree. Support for the "Lebanon revolts" and "#youstink!" anti-government movements have been souring. Whith the garbage crisis being in many ways the lit fuse to ignite an explosive mixture of frustration, rage and anxiety about the future. Nady puts into words, what many people in Lebanon ask themselves: "If this government is unable to solve that mundane an issue, how can it protect us from the real dangers just around the corner? I don't see how a government that can't handle garbage is supposed to combat Daesh."