Garbage piled up on a street in Beirut, in 2016. (File photo Patrick Baz/AFP)
BEIRUT — Garbage collection resumed Monday morning in Beirut, Metn and Kesrouan following the reopening of the Bourj Hammoud-Jdeideh landfill, after garbage had piled up in the streets the past several days at the height of the summer season, causing foul odors.
The landfill had reportedly been closed on Friday due to an incident involving waste pickers, one of whom died, Walid Bou Saad, the CEO of the trash collection company Ramco, told L’Orient-Le Jour.
However, caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin decided to reopen the landfill after a meeting on Monday with the different parties involved, according to the state-run National News Agency.
Representatives of the federations of municipalities of Metn and Kesrouan, as well as several security apparatuses and the Council for Development and Reconstruction, also met Monday morning in order to find a “lasting solution” to the issue of security of the landfill, NNA reported.
Several incidents involving waste pickers, who enter the landfill to collect valuable materials for resale, have reportedly occurred inside the site. The landfill has repeatedly closed as workers protest against the lack of protection.
This article was originally published in French at L’Orient-Le Jour.
