lebanon Trash disaster continues

Associated Press

BEIRUT

Lebanon’s trash-collection crisis, which set off huge protests this summer, is entering its sixth month, but you would hardly know it in Beirut.

Not only are the capital’s streets kept relatively garbage-free, but the country’s politicians have been in no hurry to resolve the catastrophe.

Instead, trash is pushed to the periphery, piled in hills near the mouth of the city’s river, attracting a fly infestation that has plagued Beirut’s easternmost residents since early November.

On the other side of the river, trash mounds along the bank reach the height of roadway overpasses.

“The situation is disastrous,” said Rachid Rahme, a physician at Lebanon’s Sacre Coeur Hospital. “I don’t like to get involved in politics, but I’m sure they could find a way to deal with it rather than dealing with it in this way.”

The latest initiative to solve the crisis, a proposal to export the waste temporarily, was approved by the Cabinet after a marathon six-hour meeting Monday evening, despite complaints by some ministers about its exorbitant cost.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam emerged after the meeting, telling reporters that the pressing need to “end this nightmare” forced the government to resort to this option until a more-lasting solution could be found.

Still, it likely will be at least several weeks before implementation of the export plan starts.