Jdeideh landfill reopens temporarily, awaits Cabinet decision Thursday

BEIRUT — Ramco announced on Tuesday that it had suspended all waste collection in Metn, Kesrouan, and Beirut districts until further notice, due to the closure of the Jdeideh landfill, only for public outcry to result in a swift reversal.

In a circular, a copy of which was seen by L'Orient Today, the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) ordered SGK, the company managing the landfill, to reopen the site pending the Cabinet meeting on Thursday, where the issue is expected to be addressed.

Ramco then issued a statement announcing it had taken note of CDR's circular and would resume waste collection by 5 p.m. on Thursday.

The landfill, located just north of Beirut, stopped receiving waste at 4 a.m. on Thursday after several warnings of limited capacity and SGK failing to reach an agreement with the Jdeideh municipality regarding its expansion.

How we got here

Jdeideh landfill set to close, sparking fears of new trash crisis

The issue of capacity at the Jdeideh landfill, opened in 2016 to offset the 2015 closure of the Naameh site, was brought before Cabinet on several occasions without being resolved and in mid-September, SGK announced the landfill's imminent closure.

Jdeideh was supposed to serve for five years, alongside the site at Costa Brava (Choueifat, south of Beirut), which serves southern Mount Lebanon and the other part of Beirut, but poor waste management led to both sites reaching capacity earlier than planned and undergoing successive expansions, the latest of which took place this year at the Choueifat site.

Lebanon has faced several major waste management crises in its recent history. The last major crisis was in 2015, which saw the streets and roadsides filled with garbage.

'There is a solution'

Auguste Bakhos, president of the Jdeideh municipal council, told L'Orient Today he believed the closure to be a " form of pressure on the municipality," since, according to him, "a temporary solution exists."

"We received waste that was supposed to go to Costa Brava for four months while that landfill was closed down for expansion work," he said. "So Costa Brava owes us four months of service that can start immediately," he claimed.

The "pressure" mentioned by Bakhos comes amid ongoing negotiations between the municipality and several ministries and the Council for Development and Reconstruction, CDR. Discussions revolve around an expansion of Jdeideh that would buy the reliant districts one-and-a-half-years' worth of extra time.

However, this expansion can only happen on land the state ceded to the municipality in exchange for hosting the landfill all these years. As a result, the municipal council is demanding guarantees and conditions before accepting this latest expansion — which is very unpopular with locals — notably, the right to exploit the entire surface of the landfill after its closure.

Bakhos sees the closure as means of pressuring the municipality to relaxing its demands, and he insists that he will stick to the conditions that protect the region's interests. He also says he has "set up an emergency plan to collect and temporarily store the municipality's waste."

'Who ordered Ramco to stop collecting waste?'

Batroun MP (Lebanese Forces) Ghayath Yazbeck, who also heads the parliamentary Environment Committee, wrote on X saying that he and his colleague Razi al-Hage had met with Environment Minister Tamara Elzein to discuss the landfill's closure.

"We agreed to prevent any crisis in the Metn by sending waste to Costa Brava for three and a half months, while awaiting the creation of the Household Waste Regulation Authority, which will be responsible for developing a comprehensive plan for the sector," he said. Hage, also an LF MP, is among those who have been actively pushing back against the landfill's expansion and wrote his own statement calling the suspension of waste collection "brazen blackmail."

Yazbeck also had criticisms for Elzein. "What happened for someone to suddenly order Ramco to stop collecting waste and flood the area with garbage? Madame Minister, it is not acceptable to let people fall victim to blackmail over their health and that of their children. We hope you will act quickly to remedy the situation, especially as we are on the eve of the rainy season."

Neither Elzein nor representative of Ramco were available for comment.

Metn MP Michel Murr called the closure of the landfill without an alternative a "perfect crime against the population and the environment."

"The accumulation of waste in front of homes is a red line; we will not allow people's lives to become hostages to chaos and squabbling," he said.

"A state of emergency must be declared within 24 hours, and every ministry must assume its responsibilities," he demanded, calling for "accountability for all those guilty of negligence."

For his part, MP Farid al-Khazen (former FPM, Kesrouan) lashed out at the closure of the landfill without an alternative. On his X account, he wrote: "Closing the Jdeideh landfill in this way will drown Kesrouan in its waste, which we find unacceptable. We call on Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, the interior minister, and all concerned ministries to find an immediate solution to this environmental disaster."