Tamara Elzein, Minister of the Environment (second from the right), with Sandra De Waele, EU Ambassador, the Governor of the South, and the UNDP representative, delivering waste transport vehicles in Saida, on Sept. 8, 2026. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Waste-management equipment was distributed Tuesday to five municipalities and 10 unions of municipalities in the districts of Nabatieh and South Lebanon as part of the "Tadwir" project ("recycling" in Arabic), funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the Ministry of Environment in coordination with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The project, which targets southern Lebanon, has a budget of $630,000, according to an official statement published by the state-run National News Agency (NNA).
The five municipalities involved are Arzoun, Ghazieh, Jabal al-Botom, Maarakeh, and Sour. As for the unions of municipalities, they are Bint Jbeil, Shaqif, Hasbani, Jabal Amel, Arqoub, Iqlim al-Tuffah, Jabal Rihan, Qalaa, Jezzine, and Sahel Zahrani.
The equipment, notably garbage-collection vehicles, was handed over Tuesday at the off of the Governorate of the South office in the Saida Serail by Environment Minister Tamara Elzein, in the presence of EU Ambassador to Lebanon Sandra De Waele, South Lebanon Governor Mansour Daou, UNDP representative Thaer Shreideh and regional officials.
The equipment could not be handed over directly in the affected areas because of the ongoing conflict, Elzein said. The conflict, which began on March 2, 2026, between Hezbollah and Israel, is ongoing and has left much of southern Lebanon destroyed.
Elzein stressed the need to support municipalities in providing essential services to residents, saying their capacities had been weakened by the economic crisis that began in 2019 and two successive conflicts, in 2023–2024 and 2026. “In such cases, waste management is the first service to be neglected, even though it is essential to protecting the environment and public health,” she said. Elzein said efforts were underway to secure additional assistance, highlighting the scale of destruction in southern Lebanon.
