Day marked by garbage furor as protesters reject Plan A

But following a lengthy ministerial meeting led by Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail Monday night, Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk announced that collection would resume for good. Sukleen employees were seen collecting trash in Beirut from 10:30 p.m. in the evening. Sukleen, the waste management collector for Beirut and Mount Lebanon, had suspended its services eight days ago after the government closed the Naameh landfill. At his news conference, Machnouk said the ministers had identified dumps around the country to send the region’s trash and said the state would compensate the host municipalities. He added that the Council for Development and Reconstruction would issue tenders to construct trash incinerators in August, promising this would be a long-term solution. CDR head Nabil al-Jisr, who attended the meeting, said state officials would meet with local officials Tuesday to address their concerns and open the dumps. But shortly after the announcement of the solution was made, residents of the coastal town of Jiyyeh again blocked the highway linking it to Beirut after rumors that trucks unloaded trash in their districts. Jisr dismissed the rumors as “lies.” The only other promising news of the day came out of Sidon, where Mayor Mohammad Saudi launched a behind-the-scenes campaign to convince city leaders to allow the local garbage plant to churn some of the capital region’s waste. He said the plant could treat an additional 200 tons per day without polluting the environment, according to municipal sources. Beirut municipality produces 600 tons of waste per day. The inert byproduct could be buried in a spent quarry. Speaker Nabih Berri told Saudi the state would reward Sidon with $20,000 per day worth of developmental aid, the source said. Machnouk did not say whether sending waste to Sidon was part of the ministers’ grand agreement Monday evening, but former Sidon MP Osama Saad and former Mayor Abdel Rahman Bizri signaled their opposition earlier in the day. “Governments since those of the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri have promised to compensate cities to receive Beirut’s waste, and they have never amounted to a thing,” Bizri said in a statement. The mayor of Arsal volunteered to receive the capital region’s waste, saying the compensation would help his town, but the state did not appear to take his offer seriously. “No one helps the people of Arsal,” Ali Hujeiri complained. Garbage fires in Beirut scorched telephone lines over the weekend, causing 6,000 subscribers to lose phone and Internet services, according to Ogero, the national telecommunications agency. Health Minister Wael Abu Faour Monday warned against setting dumpsters on fire. “I call on citizens to refrain from burning garbage because burning trash is bad for human health and may even cause cancer,” he said. Early Monday security forces had to forcibly reopen a major highway in Jiyyeh linking Beirut with the south after hundreds of residents of Iqlim al-Kharroub refused to abandon their sit-in to prevent trucks from carrying Beirut’s garbage to a Sibline quarry. Seven people were injured in the clashes. A spokesperson for Sukleen confirmed to The Daily Star that the government had intended to send trash to Sibline, but Monday morning Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said residents would need to approve. “We have decided that no waste would be transferred and no landfill would be created in any site in [Iqlim al-Kharroub] without an agreement reached with [the region’s] mayors and representatives of civil society,” he said in a statement. A meeting Monday evening between Machnouk and the Union of Municipalities of Iqlim al-Kharroub did not produce an agreement. Separately, the Progressive Socialist Party announced Monday that an agreement had been reached to dump garbage in a property close to Beirut’s airport, drawing a swift rejection from Transport and Public Works Minister Ghazi Zeaiter. “These measures are absolutely prohibited and they will attract birds and other things that may affect flight safety,” he said. The additional day of crisis had politicians flinging recriminations at one another. Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan blamed the garbage crisis on sectarian, political and regional rifts. He also accused Sukleen of theft, and the government of mismanagement. Arslan said responsibility fell on the government, the Environment Ministry and the Council for Development and Reconstruction, which gave Sukleen a “free hand” over a period of 18 years. PSP leader Walid Jumblatt was quoted by Al-Akhbar newspaper as saying that the Naameh landfill could be reopened to relieve the crisis, prompting Arslan to take a swipe at his Druze rival. “We will stand firm against anyone who will suggest using the Khaldeh-Shoueifat seashore as a place to dump or treat waste,” Arslan cautioned. Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel Monday accused Lebanon’s ruling class of causing the trash crisis for its own financial gains. He urged the judiciary to open Sukleen’s bank records to determine who was profiting from the crisis. “There is a mafia running Lebanon,” Gemayel, fuming with anger, said during a news conference. “Financial interests are surpassing public health considerations and the conditions of Lebanese villages and towns,” he added. He said he has repeatedly spoken with the environment minister and the premier, both of whom have claimed that certain political groups were disrupting a potential solution to the crisis. He said it was a “shame” that political parties were being “extorted” so that certain groups could make money or so public tender agreements would be made in accordance with certain interests. Addressing those disrupting a solution to the crisis, he said: “If you want to pressure Salam, don’t [do it] at the cost of the Lebanese.” Gemayel said the Lebanese government paid $200 million to Sukleen last year, or $150 per ton of waste. In comparison, New York, which has higher manual labor costs, enhanced equipment and better facilities, only pays $70 per ton, he said. Sukleen is making a profit of $100 million per year, according to his calculations. “This whole [waste management crisis] is about how to divide the $100 million among officials,” he said. He called on the judiciary and the justice minister to rescind Sukleen’s right to banking secrecy to identify the beneficiaries behind the crisis. Addressing the judiciary, he said: “This is a test for you. If you can’t tell the Lebanese who is behind a scandal like this, then we should stop the joke that is called the judiciary in Lebanon.” The Daily Star