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Karantina waste sorting center reopening at the end of June, announces Yassine

Work to rehabilitate this factory is underway, after it was destroyed during the Beirut explosion.

Karantina waste sorting center reopening at the end of June, announces Yassine

Caretaker Environment Minister (third from left) Nasser Yassin, during his tour of the Karantina Centre this morning. (Credit: NNA)

BEIRUT — Caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin visited the Karantina waste sorting center in Beirut on Monday to inspect rehabilitation work on the facility, which was destroyed in the 2020 Beirut port explosion. He was joined by Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud and representatives from donors like the World Bank and the European Union, and by representatives of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is participating to the project.

During the tour, Yassin announced that the sorting center is expected to be operational by the end of June, thanks to collaboration between the Environment Ministry and the Governorate of Beirut.

"These rehabilitation works include various construction and equipment installation aimed at restarting this plant with a sorting capacity of 1250 tons per day, serving the capital and the Metn region," Yassin said.

Since Lebanon's economic crisis in 2019 and the subsequent decline in consumption, Beirut and Metn have been generating approximately 1,200 tons of waste daily, according to Ramco, the primary waste collection company in the area.

Yassin highlighted that restoring the Karantina facility would ease the burden on the overextended Jdeideh landfill, improving overall waste management in the region.

The Karantina sorting center, located within the Beirut port, sustained significant damage in the August 2020 port explosion. Before its destruction, the facility processed waste from Beirut and northern Mount Lebanon for the Bourj Hammoud-Jdeideh landfill. Its decommissioning has since exacerbated the waste crisis, as Jdeideh struggled with increased volumes despite already being overburdened and inefficient.

Lebanon’s waste management system faces chronic challenges, with the official landfills in Jdeideh and Costa Brava near saturation and frequently expanded to accommodate rising waste levels. Limited sorting, composting and recycling capacity has compounded the crisis.

The destruction of the Karantina Centre and the abandonment of the Amroussieh sorting facility, which served Costa Brava, have forced nearly all waste to be dumped in landfills over the past five years.

BEIRUT — Caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin visited the Karantina waste sorting center in Beirut on Monday to inspect rehabilitation work on the facility, which was destroyed in the 2020 Beirut port explosion. He was joined by Beirut Governor Marwan Abboud and representatives from donors like the World Bank and the European Union, and by representatives of the United Nations...