Majdal Anjar waste sorting facility helps Lebanon confront garbage crisis

Samar El Yassir speaks at the inauguration of the Majdal Anjar waste sorting facility

August 1, 2019 | Beirut Last Saturday, July 26, Anera joined the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Social Affairs, UK Aid, UNHCR, UNDP and the Majdal Anjar municipality for an inauguration ceremony at the Majdal Anjar solid waste sorting facility. Open dumping and trash burning threaten the health of people and ecosystems in Lebanon. The facility will help improve health outcomes in the Bekaa and alleviate the national garbage crisis.

A dearth of collection services push residents to dispose of garbage in streets and beaches, putting people and the environment at risk. Lebanon produces over 2 million tons of solid waste each year. Seventy-seven percent is openly dumped, landfilled or burned despite 93 percent of the waste being recyclable or compostable. Across the country, hundreds of dumps are open-burned each week.

At a time when the Bekaa region, like the country as a whole, is suffering from a waste crisis, Anera’s Community-based Solid Waste Management project highlights the importance of waste sorting to minimize solid waste and protect the environment. Anera’s waste management program has reduced waste going to landfills and dumps by up to 80 percent in the localities where we operate.

On inauguration day, Anera Lebanon Country Director Samar El-Yassir told the assembled crowd,

“The opening of this waste sorting center at Majdal Anjar is a very important step. The project is part of a comprehensive environmental/health program that has been built to confront Lebanon’s many challenges. Through this program, we are helping to develop the capacities of local authorities. 

“Anera engages with communities on the ground, both host and refugee communities, to create jobs and to educate, train and raise environmental awareness about sorting at source in homes, schools and companies.

“Waste management is one of the most important issues in our country and it is our duty to contribute and help the Lebanese state to implement healthy and sustainable solutions to address environmental and health threats.”

Anera’s community volunteers joined the inauguration event. Community engagement is an essential component of Anera’s waste management program, helping to ensure local buy-in and sustainable participation.

About Anera

For 51 years, Anera has helped refugees and others hurt by conflicts in the Middle East live with dignity and purpose. Anera, which has no political or religious affiliation, works on the ground with partners in the West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem, Lebanon, and Jordan. We mobilize resources for immediate humanitarian relief and for sustainable health, education, and economic development efforts. Our staff are from the communities they serve, navigating the politics that constrict progress to get help where it’s needed most. In this way, Anera has grown to deliver more than $65 million in programming annually. We will keep building better lives until hope finds its way in the Middle East.

For more information, please contact:

Steven Fake
Media Relations Officer, Anera
202.266.9719
[email protected]