“No agreement was reached during the ministerial committee’s meeting, however, it will hold another one after Thursday’s Cabinet session or on Friday,” Machnouk said. The committee, headed by Prime Minister Tammam Salam and comprised of eight ministers from various political parties, said it had reached an agreement Monday to begin removing the mounds of garbage from the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon. But trash collection since then has been very limited, and the situation in most parts of the capital and its suburbs continues to deteriorate. Before the ministerial committee meeting, Education Minister Elias Bou Saab said that whoever is impeding solutions to the waste crisis is trying to topple the government. “If we do not reach a solution today, then it could only mean that some people are trying to push the Prime Minister Tammam Salam to resign,” Bou Saab said. Machnouk rejected blame for the current crisis in comments before Wednesday’s meeting, saying that “the political situation in the Cabinet is delaying any possible solutions to the garbage issue.” Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan said sarcastically: “The present situation is catastrophic. I urge the citizens to open landfills and incinerators on their rooftops.” The Daily Star
