Ramco wins tender for Beirut waste management

A joint venture between local firm Ramco Trading and Contracting and Turkish firm Altas Temizlik, has won a tender for garbage collection, transport, and road sweeping operations in Beirut. The process requires Audit Bureau approval before it comes into effect.

The company won the tender, held by Beirut Municipality, for $70 million over a period of five years. It will begin collecting garbage in five months.

The company will pick up 650 tons of waste per day.

Hagop Terzian, Member of the Board in Beirut Municipality said that according to the terms of reference, Ramco will adopt new technologies in transporting waste. The company's trucks and pickups will be equipped with GPS, as well as being Euro 5-certified equipment (European emission standards).

The company will give priority to local employees, Terzian said.

Terzian said that the company will be conducting awareness campaigns to encourage sorting at source. Three garbage containers will be placed on streets for plastic, glass and metal, organic waste, including food residues and tissues, and a third for paper and card products. Three separate trucks will collect the garbage.

The company won a tender for the collection and transportation of garbage in Metn and Keserouan last June.

The two companies will take over operations from Sukleen, a company under the Averda umbrella, which has been in charge of road sweeping and pickup and transportation of garbage in Beirut and Mount Lebanon for the past 15 years.

Beirut Municipality will launch a tender after finalizing the terms of reference regarding the establishment of a factory for sorting and composting garbage.