Naameh landfill threatened with closure (Daily Star)

Daily Star - Nada Raad

Environment committee chairman says officials failing to address crisis
Chehayeb points finger at mismanagement in both administration and policy for solid waste disposal countrywide

The chairman of Parliament’s Environment Committee threatened Wednesday to shut down the Naameh landfill through a national campaign if responsible officials failed to address the solid waste crisis afflicting the country.

In a meeting organized by the opposition Democratic Renewal Movement, which is led by Metn MP Nassib Lahoud, Aley MP Akram Chehayeb said mismanagement in both administration and policy were blamed for the country’s environmental crisis.

During the meeting, held at the movement’s offices in Starco and including speakers from the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) and the National Campaign for Solid Waste Management, participants addressed the country’s current solid waste crisis and offered both policy and administrative solutions.

Habib Maalouf, representing the National Campaign for Solid Waste Treatment, said the Coral composting plant was established during the 1997 emergency plan when the CDR hired Averda to handle the capital’s household solid waste

“This plant was supposed to hold 850 tons of solid waste per day, but only treated 300 tons of organic waste per day with  the extra waste being transported to the Naameh landfill,“ Maalouf said.

Several of the people who attended the meeting questioned the CDR representative, Hassan Doughayli, about this  number, but no one received an answer.

Environmental activist Bassam Qantar said Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt promised the Naameh landfill would be closed next  year on Jan. 26 because it could not hold any additional waste.

Chehayeb added that “we will not wait after the end of January to close the landfill if responsible officials do not find  solutions; we will shut it down through a national campaign before Jan. 26 for three days.

When the government implemented the “emergency plan in 1997 and established the Naameh landfill, it mismanaged the operation by filling the new landfill in three years, although it was supposed to last for at least 10 years,“ Chehayeb said

“The absence of composting, lack of proper monitoring and the increasing quantity of waste in the landfill has led to the  current crisis,“ he added.

At the meeting, the Environment Committee chairman listed all the government policies regarding solid waste treatment, which he said began in 1994 with the establishment of a new incinerator.

“Between 1996 and 1999 a new plan was offered rejecting incinerators and calling for the establishment of landfills, a decrease in the quantity of solid waste generated by households and participation from local communities in the plan’s formulation,“ Chehayeb said.

According to the chairman, this plan was frozen in 2000 and transferred to the Interior Ministry, while in a separate development Cabinet put incinerators back on the agenda.

He said the government reinstated the use of incinerators and landfills in 2002 without any suggestions regarding composting techniques.

He added that, even though the environment committee met 11 times to discuss the details of the new strategy, their questions about composting were not answered.

Chehayeb said Cabinet designated the CDR to manage the solid waste issue by hiring a new company to treat solid waste and break the contract with both Sukomi and Sukleen.

Although the tender for the new company should have started Nov. 15, he added that the CDR delayed the tender for another two months and now it will be delayed even further because the government failed to designate landfill locations.