Mikati holds donor meeting to address issues facing waste management sector

BEIRUT – Prime Minister Najib Mikati chaired an extended meeting Tuesday “to discuss the strategic vision and aspirations the Environment Ministry has drawn up for the comprehensive management of solid waste,” and to call for donations to the sector.

Here’s what we know:

    • The prime minister called on the “international community’s cooperation” and international partners to help improve the sector amid its ongoing crises, in addition to establishing cooperation between local partners and the international community.

    • The financial crisis in Lebanon has hurt the solid waste sector, as banks halted transfers abroad, and contractors were incapable of opening new lines of credit. The decline of the Lebanese lira has also decreased the purchasing power of contractors.

    • "We welcome any support our international partners can provide in that respect," Mikati said at the meeting, which was attended by various ministers and representatives of embassies and the United Nations.

    • At the beginning of February, waste began piling up on the streets of Metn and Kesrouan as workers of the Ramco company, in charge of garbage collection, went on strike. This came after Banque du Liban failed to transfer a payment to the company, said Ramco’s president Walid Bou Saab.

    • The company is seriously in debt according to Bou Saab, and can no longer pay its workers. Beirut has so far been spared another trash crisis because the municipality paid three months in advance, but another bill is due at the end of February.