News
Latest News
news bulletin
Breaking Headlines
Israel-Gaza War Updates
Variety and Tech
Sports News
Middle East News
World News
Lebanon News
Press Highlights
Lebanon Economy
News Bulletin Reports
Other News
Breaking Headlines
Israel-Gaza War Updates
Variety and Tech
Sports News
Middle East News
World News
Lebanon News
Press Highlights
Lebanon Economy
News Bulletin Reports
Beirut
26
o
Bekaa
23
o
Keserwan
28
o
Metn
28
o
Mount Lebanon
24
o
North
28
o
South
26
o
Live
Video
Audio
Schedule
shows
العربية
watching now
Nharkom Said
SUBSCRIBE
Home
Notification
Live
Video
Audio
shows
Beirut
26
o
Bekaa
23
o
Keserwan
28
o
Metn
28
o
Mount Lebanon
24
o
North
28
o
South
26
o
News
Programs
The News
Breaking Headlines
Israel-Gaza War Updates
Variety and Tech
Sports News
Middle East News
World News
Lebanon News
Press Highlights
Lebanon Economy
News Bulletin Reports
Programs
Documentaries
Lebanon’s Centennial
News Bulletin
The Untold History
Talk Show
Series
Sports
Variety
Other
Comedy
Oldies
Breaking News
Latest News
Highlighted News
Most Read
Videos
العربية
Watch the latest programs and the latest developments on your favorite screen
Shows
Join millions of followers
Who We Are
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Careers
Channel frequencies
Privacy Policy
Terms and Conditions
'Drive-throw' recycling aims to ease Lebanon garbage crisis
Lebanon News
2023-07-03 | 02:05
High views
Share
Share
4
min
'Drive-throw' recycling aims to ease Lebanon garbage crisis
Beirut motorists pull up to a drive-through counter -- not for fast-food, but to exchange empty bottles and cardboard for cash, a novelty in a country long plagued by garbage crises.
Festering landfills often overflow in crisis-hit Lebanon, waste is burnt illegally at informal dump sites and rubbish floats off the coast in the Mediterranean Sea.
State-run recycling has largely fallen by the wayside in a nation that has been grappling with a three-year-long economic collapse.
"The government used to be in charge of this sector and now it is bankrupt," said Pierre Baaklini, 32, founder of Lebanon Waste Management.
Around a year ago he started the first "Drive Throw" recycling station and opened a second in February in Burj Hammoud, a Beirut suburb known for its proximity to a landfill.
With more than 80 percent of Lebanon's population living in poverty, the poorest eke out a meagre living picking through dumpsters for anything they can sell for recycling or scrap.
Baaklini said his customers are generally environmentally conscious and among the minority "with sufficient income".
People drive up to the station in their cars, register their details and place bags and boxes of loosely sorted recyclables on the counter. Workers accept everything from cardboard to plastic, glass, metal, e-waste, batteries and even used cooking oil.
A sign lists the prices -- a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of cardboard is worth 2,000 Lebanese pounds (around two cents), while aluminum cans are worth 50,000 pounds a kilogram.
Rony Nashef, 38, handed over bulging bags of plastic, in a country where many rely on bottled water for drinking.
Recycling "is definitely a much better solution to Lebanon's trash problem", he said.
Incompetence and corruption caused a spectacular waste crisis in Lebanon in 2015, when rivers of garbage filled the streets and ran into the sea, leading to protests by thousands and harming the country's image.
No viable long-term solution has since been found, and the destruction of two sorting plants in a catastrophic August 2020 explosion at Beirut port worsened the problem.
- 'For the community' -
Behind the scenes at Drive Throw, the recyclables are sorted carefully, while the plastic is later shredded and cleaned.
The two facilities have taken in a total of 450 tons of recyclables, founder Baaklini said, adding that the materials are sold to both local and international clients.
"What we are doing here is also about education" and awareness-raising, he said, as school students sometimes visit the facility to learn about recycling.
Environmental engineer Ziad Abichaker said recycling had always been neglected by authorities.
Only "about 10 percent" of Lebanon's daily waste load of 5,000 tonnes is recycled, said Abichaker, who heads Cedar Environmental, a group that specialises in "zero waste" technologies.
Authorities were studying a national waste management plan but there has been no progress due to institutional deadlock, he said.
A caretaker government with limited powers has been at the helm for more than a year.
Abichaker said "90 percent of the sorting plants built over the years" with money from international donations had stopped working, pointing to "faulty designs" and "corruption".
In Burj Hammoud, Renata Rahme, 47, said the first time she rolled up to the Drive Throw recycling station, she didn't know she was supposed to separate the materials.
"Now I'm trying to do more sorting," said Rahme, a film producer who brought in a crate with lights and other small electrical appliances.
"The point is not the monetary return as much as participating in the initiative," she said. "We're trying to do something better for the community, for the country, for society."
AFP
Lebanon News
Lebanon
Garbage
Recycling
Sustainability
Environment
Crisis
Next
Israeli strike hits Jouaiyya: Initial toll one dead, six injured (Video)
Presidential Elections 101: Unveiling Lebanon's Presidential elections’ history
Previous
Recommended For You
d-none hideMe
0
Lebanon News
02:10
Intense aerial surveillance over villages in Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts, south Lebanon
Lebanon News
02:10
Intense aerial surveillance over villages in Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts, south Lebanon
0
Lebanon News
01:46
Israeli airstrikes target villages in Nabatieh and Marjaayoun districts, south Lebanon
Lebanon News
01:46
Israeli airstrikes target villages in Nabatieh and Marjaayoun districts, south Lebanon
0
Middle East News
01:36
Israeli army says intercepted suspicious aerial objects launched from Lebanon
Middle East News
01:36
Israeli army says intercepted suspicious aerial objects launched from Lebanon
0
Lebanon News
01:23
Hezbollah claims precision drone strikes on Israel's Shimshon military base
Lebanon News
01:23
Hezbollah claims precision drone strikes on Israel's Shimshon military base
Subscribe to our VOD
SUBSCRIBE
Our visitors readings
d-none hideMe
0
Lebanon News
02:10
Intense aerial surveillance over villages in Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts, south Lebanon
Lebanon News
02:10
Intense aerial surveillance over villages in Tyre and Bint Jbeil districts, south Lebanon
0
Lebanon News
01:23
Hezbollah claims precision drone strikes on Israel's Shimshon military base
Lebanon News
01:23
Hezbollah claims precision drone strikes on Israel's Shimshon military base
0
Middle East News
2024-09-24
Haaretz: 40,000 fighters from Syria, Iraq, Yemen arrive in Golan, await Nasrallah's call
Middle East News
2024-09-24
Haaretz: 40,000 fighters from Syria, Iraq, Yemen arrive in Golan, await Nasrallah's call
0
Lebanon News
2024-09-22
Civil Defense: Death toll rises to 46 in Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs
Lebanon News
2024-09-22
Civil Defense: Death toll rises to 46 in Israeli strike on Beirut's southern suburbs
Videos
d-none hideMe
0
Middle East News
2024-10-03
British ship Cordelia Moon targeted in Red Sea attack, Yemeni media reports (Video)
Middle East News
2024-10-03
British ship Cordelia Moon targeted in Red Sea attack, Yemeni media reports (Video)
0
Lebanon News
2024-10-03
Russia delivers humanitarian aid to Lebanon (Video)
Lebanon News
2024-10-03
Russia delivers humanitarian aid to Lebanon (Video)
0
Lebanon News
2024-10-02
Late-night Israeli airstrikes in Beirut lead to thick smoke and targeted strikes
Lebanon News
2024-10-02
Late-night Israeli airstrikes in Beirut lead to thick smoke and targeted strikes
0
Middle East News
2024-10-01
Yedioth Ahronoth: Over 102 rockets launched from Iran, sirens sound across Israel (Video)
Middle East News
2024-10-01
Yedioth Ahronoth: Over 102 rockets launched from Iran, sirens sound across Israel (Video)
0
Lebanon News
2024-10-01
Iranian plane arrives in Latakia with humanitarian aid for Lebanese citizens fleeing to Syria (Video)
Lebanon News
2024-10-01
Iranian plane arrives in Latakia with humanitarian aid for Lebanese citizens fleeing to Syria (Video)
0
Lebanon News
2024-09-29
Israel strikes apartment in a building in Cola area in Beirut
Lebanon News
2024-09-29
Israel strikes apartment in a building in Cola area in Beirut
0
Lebanon News
2024-09-28
Video shows aftermath of intense Israeli strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs
Lebanon News
2024-09-28
Video shows aftermath of intense Israeli strikes in Beirut's southern suburbs
0
Lebanon News
2024-09-26
Explosion heard in Beirut’s southern suburbs as Israeli airstrike hits (video)
Lebanon News
2024-09-26
Explosion heard in Beirut’s southern suburbs as Israeli airstrike hits (video)
0
Lebanon News
2024-09-25
Israel targets Ras Osta, Bechtelida in Byblos district; announces ground operation plans
Lebanon News
2024-09-25
Israel targets Ras Osta, Bechtelida in Byblos district; announces ground operation plans
Most read
d-none hideMe
24 hours
7 days
Month
1
Lebanon News
13:40
Israeli strike on Nabi Younos in Jiyeh
Lebanon News
13:40
Israeli strike on Nabi Younos in Jiyeh
2
Lebanon News
15:58
Israel issues new evacuation order for Choueifat Amroussieh, Haret Hreik residents in Beirut’s southern suburbs
Lebanon News
15:58
Israel issues new evacuation order for Choueifat Amroussieh, Haret Hreik residents in Beirut’s southern suburbs
3
Lebanon News
15:44
Israeli army issues urgent evacuation warning for Borj El Brajneh residents in Beirut's southern suburbs
Lebanon News
15:44
Israeli army issues urgent evacuation warning for Borj El Brajneh residents in Beirut's southern suburbs
4
Lebanon News
18:12
Adraee warns residents of Borj El Brajneh, Laylaki, and Haret Hreik residents in Beirut's southern suburbs to immediate evacuate
Lebanon News
18:12
Adraee warns residents of Borj El Brajneh, Laylaki, and Haret Hreik residents in Beirut's southern suburbs to immediate evacuate
5
Lebanon News
18:55
Hezbollah: We launched a salvo of rockets at Israeli forces trying to evacuate dead soldiers from Manara settlement
Lebanon News
18:55
Hezbollah: We launched a salvo of rockets at Israeli forces trying to evacuate dead soldiers from Manara settlement
6
Lebanon News
16:18
Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs following Israeli army’s evacuation alert
Lebanon News
16:18
Israeli strikes hit Beirut’s southern suburbs following Israeli army’s evacuation alert
7
News Bulletin Reports
13:18
Inside Israel: Damage caused by Iran, Iraq, and Hezbollah amid field difficulties in South Lebanon
News Bulletin Reports
13:18
Inside Israel: Damage caused by Iran, Iraq, and Hezbollah amid field difficulties in South Lebanon
8
Lebanon News
08:48
Israeli Golani Brigade claims to uncover weapon depots and infrastructure in South Lebanon
Lebanon News
08:48
Israeli Golani Brigade claims to uncover weapon depots and infrastructure in South Lebanon
Download now the LBCI mobile app
To see the latest news, the latest daily programs in Lebanon and the world
Google Play
App Store
We use
cookies
We use
cookies
to make
your experience on this
website better.
Accept
Learn More