Beirut and other areas in Lebanon might get flooded with wastes and trash in the next few weeks if proper action is not taken.
The economic crisis has taken its toll on waste management companies and municipalities that have found themselves unable to pay for trash collecting companies.
Ramco, Beirut’s main waste management company, claimed in a letter sent to the Municipality of Beirut that it will be unable to function anymore if it does not get paid soon and has thus called for a proper meeting.
Ramco’s Director, Walid Bou Saad, told LBCI that the company has monthly costs of $800,000 that it has to pay to do its job but is only getting paid $2000 a month according to the 3,900 LBP/Dollar exchange rate.
Other municipalities all over Lebanon are also struggling to find fuel to run their garbage collecting vehicles, which need to operate daily. This has led some of them to limit collecting trash to once per week.
As the economic and fuel crises get worse, more municipalities will be unable to pay their respective waste management companies and will be able to neither afford nor find fuel to power machines and vehicles.
Lebanon had faced a severe garbage crisis back in 2015 where rivers of wastes flooded the capital and surrounding areas. Back then the Lebanese government resorted to the unsustainable and unhealthy option of burning trash, which has proved a failure in the long term.
