New app aims to lighten Lebanon’s trash crisis with recycling exchange

BEIRUT — A Lebanese waste management firm is set to launch the country’s first app for businesses to exchange recyclables in bulk — a move the group says will help chip away at a growing garbage problem.

Next week, waste management start-up Nadeera plans to launch the “Relist” app, which it says will be the first marketplace for recycled goods in Lebanon as the country’s economic woes mean trash often goes uncollected.

With budget cuts and the lack of sustainable waste treatment policies, Lebanon is witnessing chronic trash mismanagement. Since 2015 in particular, that has meant piles of garbage on the streets and the closure of important landfills upon reaching their full capacity.

Nadeera co-founders Rabih El Chaar and Reem Khattar at a recycling collection point in Beirut. (Credit: Lynn Jaafar/L'Orient Today)

In recent years the crisis has grown so bad that “you stepped out of your building and saw waste and bags scattered all over the streets,” says Rabih El Chaar, CEO and co-founder of Nadeera. “Today, the Costa Brava landfill is full and the Baouchrieh one is almost full. In City Mall, you used to be able to see the sea. Now, all you see is a tower of waste.”

Chaar and colleague Reem Khattar founded Nadeera – which means cleanliness and sustainability in Arabic — in 2020 to create apps they hope will alleviate the garbage problem.

Relist, which got funds from USAID, is the group’s second app and specifically targets businesses, rather than households. Here’s how it works:

“If you’re a seller, you post a listing with a minimum price and receive bids on it,” says Khattar. “The value depends on the material, and for every material, there's a minimum weight. There’s another feature where you can request material, stating your location, and say how much you’re offering.”

They expect people to engage in bulk trading of recyclable materials such as metals, plastics, cardboard and paper.

Chaar adds: “We make sure that people who are on Relist are traders or generators of recyclables.”

Khattar and Chaar say they plan to monetize Relist by offering a premium version granting users access to listings before they are public. They’ll also include a payment feature within the app, from which Nadeera would take a transaction fee.

Upon its launch, Relist will operate in Lebanon, but the founders promised that once mature and ready, it will extend its operations to join Yalla Return in the MENA region.

Yalla Return, Nadeera’s first app, is aimed at households — rather than businesses — who want to recycle.

It allows users to locate dropoff points for recyclables. In exchange, participants receive “credits” that they can either withdraw as cash or donate to a charity.

This financial incentive made a very big difference. Chaar explains: “Five to 10 percent come for the environmental aspect of it, but the majority are drawn by the cashback. While some donate them to the charities we collaborate with, like the Children Cancer’s Center of Lebanon, others might actually need it. It can move the needle for some families.”

Currently, the company has 20 employees across Lebanon, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

With Costa Brava Landfill just south of Beirut edging ever closer to capacity, Chaar says waste might be on the streets again.

Eight years since the 2015 trash crisis and ensuing “You Stink” mass protests, “the government has done absolutely nothing,” he adds.

“But at least we feel like we are contributing by having these collection centers across Lebanon, that help reduce the impact of the crisis on the country,” says Chaar.