Government green lights
export of garbage

Total cost $193 million per year

The Council of Ministers has agreed to export solid waste, after five months of acute crisis and two failed ministerial plans.

Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb, who was tasked with following up on the issue, said: “The Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) will be assigned to handle the garbage export process, according to local and international laws.”

The CDR will sign contracts with Dutch firm Howa B.V and British firm Chinook Urban Mining International to transport and handle the exported waste. “The two companies should present a bank guarantee within a week and the remaining documents which prove the approval of the countries of import within a month,” he said. The term of the contracts is 18 months. Six international companies have participated in the bids. The bid was not public.

Beirut and Mount Lebanon, totaling for around 2.5 million persons, is concerned by this solution, as other regions have their own infrastructure. The volume of garbage amounts to 2,500 tons per day. All garbage that was not landfilled or incinerated since the crisis broke out on July 17 will also be exported. The cost of export alone is $125 per ton. Shinook Urban Mining will operate sorting facilities in Karantina and Amrousieh at an additional cost of $25 per ton. Collection and sweeping will still be handled by Sukleen at a cost of $62. Total cost will be $212 per ton, or $530,000 per day, and $193 million per year. As sorting will be handled locally, concerned industries, such as paper recycling facilities, will still benefit from the output.

The countries that will receive our trash have not been decided on. Chehayeb said it is up to the two companies to decide on the destination. Talks arose about imposing new taxes on gasoline to cover the plan’s implementation. But Chehayeb said that the plan will be funded so far from municipal dues.