Thick clouds of smoke, foul odors in Tripoli caused by burning of household waste

BEIRUT — Thick clouds of smoke accompanied by foul odors covered the sky of Tripoli on Sunday morning, caused by the burning of large amounts of household waste carelessly dumped along the roads in the area, according to our correspondent in the North.

The smoke rose from the areas of Abi Samra, al-Shalfa and neighboring regions.

Our correspondent reported that the waste contained plastic, which led to the spread of suffocating, foul-smelling odors. Moreover, the wind further dispersed the smells, increasing their environmental and health impact, especially on children, the elderly and people with respiratory diseases or allergies, as the toxic smoke infiltrated homes.

Residents called on the relevant official authorities to quickly extinguish the fires to reduce these toxic emissions. They stressed the urgent need to find long-term solutions to prevent this from happening again and to address the problem of large-scale random waste dumping.

Recently, tires have also been burned in Tripoli on several occasions, with the aim of recovering copper, resulting in thick columns of black smoke.