Stabilisation through Solid Waste Management Project in Lebanon

Summary

“Stabilisation through Solid Waste Management Project in Lebanon”, is a project funded by the Government of Kuwait through the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in coordination with the Ministry of Environment (MoE) and the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR).

The project is targeting two main components to support the solid waste sector in Lebanon building on the priorities set by the government itself. This includes the closure of uncontrolled dumpsites which are a source of public health risk to local communities and Syrian refugees and the construction of needed sanitary landfills.

Background

Since 2019, Lebanon has been assailed by compounding crises triggered by an economic collapse and a financial meltdown, aggravated by the COVID-19 outbreak, and the Beirut Blast in August 2020. Moreover, the country is hosting the largest refugee per capita population in the world since the start of the Syria war which has crippled the country’s economy.

Solid waste management is a key area of interventions not only for the environment and public health but also for social stabilization, as stipulated in the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan 2017-2021. The most urgent and often overlooked need in Lebanon’s solid waste management is to secure the necessary sanitary landfills which can accommodate non-recyclable wastes in an environmentally sound manner.

Major Achievements

UNDP has completed detailed assessments along with their respective designs as per the below:

  • A detailed design and relevant systems for a landfill in the South of Lebanon (Naffakhieh) with a capacity of approximately 200,000m3, including a leachate management system. 
  • A detailed design of the capping of the Ghazzeh landfill cell (closure) that is near an informal tented settlement of nearly 12,000 Syrian displaced.
     

Project outcome

The project’s outcomes have been designed to optimize the solid waste management and environmental sustainability in Lebanon while addressing critical local development needs, as follows: 
Construction of a Solid Waste Management Sanitary Landfill
Closure of Dumpsite

GESI Component (Gender Equality and Social Inclusion) 

The widespread uncontrolled dumping causes a range of environmental impacts on air, water and land, resulting in serious public health risks of vulnerable local communities. By strengthening the municipalities’ capacity to provide the integrated solid waste management, the project will contribute to social stabilization in the host communities, which is one of the urgent humanitarian needs in Lebanon.
At the same time, all assessments and data collection integrates gender disaggregation as part of the project’s commitment to improve gender equality and women’s empowerment.