Tamara al-Zein calls for 'a collective effort to reduce plastic waste'

Environment Minister Tamara al-Zein released a message Thursday on the occasion of World Environment Day, which falls on June 5, in which she discussed plastic pollution, the theme of the day this year.

"The world produces 430 million tons of plastic per year, two-thirds of which are small products with a very short usage duration, quickly turning into waste," she said. This plastic waste "fills the oceans and often ends up in our food chain" through people's consumption of fish and seafood.

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"The Ministry of Environment believes that combating this plastic pollution is an important contribution towards achieving sustainable development goals, particularly within the framework of our climate action, sustainable production and consumption, the protection of our seas and oceans, and the reform of our environmental systems to preserve biodiversity," she added.

Scientific solution to the problem of plastic pollution

The Environment Ministry "calls on all citizens, businesses, and governmental agencies to join efforts aimed at reducing plastic waste volume, responsible recycling, and supporting alternatives," the statement said. "Through this joint work, Lebanon can contribute to finding a scientific solution to the problem of plastic pollution."

Lebanon has struggled for decades with catastrophic waste management, which mainly relies on dumping in more or less controlled centralized landfills. In 2015-2016, a major waste crisis flooded the country with garbage following the abrupt closure of the only landfill for Beirut and Mount Lebanon at the time, the Naameh landfill. Since then, this landfill has been replaced by two coastal sites, regularly saturated and then expanded, Costa Brava to the south of the capital, and Jdeideh to the north. As recently as June 4, the Choueifat municipality, where the Costa Brava landfill is located, threatened to block the access road to the site in protest against the state's unpaid debts, amounting to $8 million per year. The two waste collection companies, Ramco and City Blu, complained in interviews with L'Orient-Le Jour, that the state had not settled its bills since November 2024.

Addressing Lebanon's significant plastic pollution, the environment minister, in her letter to the Lebanese people, mentioned "measures" taken by her ministry, including "the comprehensive national waste treatment strategy for 2024 based on the principles of waste reduction, reuse, and recycling, principles that apply to plastic pollution." The strategy was launched by Zein's predecessor, Nasser Yassin, on the eve of the presidential election in January. The current minister expressed her intention to review certain parts of it.