The Jdeideh landfill briefly closed its gates on Tuesday. (Photo S.B.)
The Cabinet approved Thursday the expansion of the Jdeideh landfill, which serves North Mount Lebanon and part of Beirut, by creating a new cell on municipally owned land. Until this new cell becomes operational, the current, already saturated cell will continue receiving waste. This stopgap solution temporarily wards off the prospect of a new waste crisis in the serviced regions.
The meeting was attended by Mohammad Qabbani, president of the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), and Auguste Bakhos, president of the Jdeideh municipal council. "The Cabinet tasked the CDR with building a new cell at the Jdeideh landfill, to be used only until the end of 2026 or until it reaches capacity," Information Minister Paul Morcos said. He added that the future Household Waste Regulatory Authority, which is to be established soon, will make resolving the Jdeideh case a priority.
The Burj Hammoud-Jdeideh landfill, created alongside Costa Brava (southern Beirut) to resolve the 2015-2016 waste crisis, has already reached capacity repeatedly and been expanded. The current cell, explained Ghayas Yazbek, head of the Environment Committee, to L'Orient-Le Jour, now stands at 37 meters high and poses a hazard. Its brief closure last Tuesday caused panic in Metn-North and Beirut before reopening a few hours later.
It appears the Cabinet also accommodated the municipality's demands to expand onto a 40,000-square-meter adjacent plot ceded by the state. "The Cabinet decided to build a solar-powered electricity station and a methane-powered plant, both to be operated by the municipality," Morcos said. All the land reclaimed from the sea will revert to the municipality, which may develop projects there that are "suitable" for this type of terrain. These conditions had previously been outlined by Bakhos in an earlier interview with L’Orient-Le Jour.
Additionally, the Cabinet authorized municipalities to design and build waste treatment plants within their jurisdictions, using whatever funding they choose, based on a plan submitted by Environment Minister Tamara al Zein.
Complaint against Israel
Morcos also addressed Israeli attacks against journalists in Lebanon. "The Cabinet tasked Justice Minister Adel Nassar with examining options for filing a complaint against Israel over journalists killed and wounded on Lebanese soil, including Issam Abdallah, whose second memorial is in a few days," he said.
Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah was killed in South Lebanon on Oct. 13, 2023, in an Israeli strike that severely wounded others. Mayadeen journalists Farah Omar and Rabih el-Maamari were killed on Nov. 21, 2023, in Tayr Harfa (South Lebanon). On Oct. 25, 2024, Ghassan Najjar and Mohammad Reda from Al-Mayadeen and Wissam Qassem from Al-Manar were targeted in Hasbaya (South Lebanon). All were clearly marked as media personnel.
Finally, the government approved a bill submitted by the information minister requiring public institutions and companies in which the state holds more than 50 percent ownership to dedicate a share of their advertising to official media, primarily Télé Liban.
