On the twenty-fifth day of the eighth month of the huge waste crisis in Lebanon that began on July 17, 2015, we ask this question emphatically: When does the sage reconsider his plan and strategy?
It is no longer easy for those who follow Lebanon’s waste crisis file to compile statistics for decisions taken by the Council of Ministers in this regard and for the number of plans approved but not implemented.
Despite the diversity and variation of these plans in some of their details, you can find the common element that brings them together, especially the conservation of the pyramid of choices embodying the case, far from integrated waste management, to the detriment Lebanon’s environment and the health of its people, especially landfilling, incineration and export.
It is no longer reasonable to continue to ignore public opinion, or to accuse it of negativity and refusal, and to defeat the plans of the government.
For once, we call on wise men to admit that the government can not be right, with a handful of its consultants, and that all the Lebanese people and public opinion, its organizations, its movements, its ecological society, civil , academic, union and municipal are not right, despite their abilities, their expertise and their environmental and national sense.
It is no longer acceptable to insist on landfills to accommodate total waste, as a transition period that opens the way for incinerators to incinerate all waste as well.
It is no longer acceptable to insist on the failed choices, which have confirmed their failure again and again, and which are the basis of the policies that led to the crisis that has plagued Lebanon and its people for about eight months .
It is no longer acceptable to use all political maneuvers and pressures in all their colors, sectarian, denominational, regional and party, as well as financial and non-financial incentives to pass them.
It is no longer acceptable to remain silent about the threat by imposing failed options, and intimidation through the use of security forces or even breaking people’s opposition through repression.
All of this makes it easier for some of the pillars of our government to repeat them on a daily basis, the wise among them do not find a moment of reflection to review their plans and strategies and to respond seriously and sincerely, far from the maneuver, with all what the ecological and civil society proposes as practical and strategic initiatives for integrated waste management in Lebanon.
Landfills and incinerators are not the solution for Lebanon’s waste, but perhaps the last step in integrated management cycles that are based on the concepts of mitigation, by streamlining consumption sorting, recycling, composting, treating and recovering the material and energy value of some of their components, in addition to making what can be made from their residues and finally, burying it which remains residues.
This strategy will be accepted by all organizations of the ecological, civil and academic society, such as laws and programs to rationalize the consumption and mitigation of waste production, the development, enlargement and activation of Sorting, recycling and processing plants are the cornerstones of this strategy, which opens the door to effectively and successfully launching source separation programs.
When does the sage reconsider his plan and strategy?
Is not enough the failed experiments of your plans and policies, which have drowned the country in waste, and in a crisis of the never seen by wasting hundreds of millions in dark offers without hesitation or shame?
