fbpx
Join us in championing courageous and independent journalism!
Support Daraj

How Does The Waste Crisis in Lebanon Contribute to Climate Change?

Published on 17.01.2025
Reading time: 8 minutes

Environmental crimes resulting from four decades of poor waste management in Lebanon extend beyond the country’s borders. The national waste management strategy, however, has failed to meet expectations.


“Solid waste accounts for 20 percent of global methane emissions,” stated Mukhtar Babayev, President of the Climate Change Conference held this year in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku. The conference presidency launched the Declaration on Reducing Methane from Organic Waste, with 30 countries—representing 45 percent of global methane emissions—pledging to cut these emissions by 30 percent by 2030. The “Blue” and “Green” zones at the conference hosted numerous sessions and events addressing waste-related issues.

During a session on November 19, 2024 focused on methane emissions from solid waste, Martina Otto, Head of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Secretariat under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), stated, “About one-third of food produced annually is lost or wasted.” She added, “This declaration addresses community health, enhances cooperation, and secures funding, helping us keep food out of landfills.” Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment noted, “Emissions stem from waste decomposition in landfills, disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities.”

Countries outlined their plans to reduce methane emissions from solid waste during the session. The United Arab Emirates committed to reducing landfill waste by 80 percent by the end of this decade, which is expected to cut methane emissions from the waste sector by 37 percent. Germany, for its part, announced a complete ban on landfilling organic waste.

In Lebanon, the waste sector accounts for 87.5 percent of national methane (CH₄) emissions, making it the largest source of these emissions, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Environment. However, the absence of Lebanon’s delegation at the session in Baku raised questions about the country’s commitment to tackling this critical environmental issue and its impact on climate change.

Lebanese delegation head and journalist Habib Maalouf explained to “Daraj” that Lebanon “faces an internal crisis in the waste sector that cannot be solved by external countries because it is not merely a financial issue.” He added that Lebanon “received grants from the European Union to build facilities in various villages, yet none of these facilities are currently operational.”

During the conference, the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) urged member states to incorporate sustainable waste management strategies into their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). In an interview with Daraj at the Waste and Resources Pavilion in the Green Zone, ISWA President James Law said: “The lack of effective control systems in waste management results in methane being released into the atmosphere, exacerbating the climate crisis.” He added, “One ton of methane has the same impact as 80 tons of carbon dioxide.”

Methane Firelines: A Growing Crisis

In 2015, Lebanon submitted its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), later updating it in 2021. Lebanese authorities pledged to reduce emissions across several sectors, including solid waste management.

At the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, Lebanon signed the Global Methane Pledge (GMP), a commitment by 159 countries to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030. However, Lebanon has made no tangible progress in addressing its waste management challenges. Organic waste constitutes the largest share of waste produced in Lebanon, accounting for about 52 percent of total waste, according to the 2018 Integrated Solid Waste Management Law. Yet, there is no law prohibiting the disposal of organic waste in landfills, exacerbating the environmental crisis and contributing to increased methane emissions.

Two weeks before Israel launched its full-scale war on Lebanon, a fire broke out at the Bourj Hammoud landfill northeast of Beirut, highlighting Lebanon’s ongoing failure to address its waste crisis through ineffective government emergency plans.

“Firelines appeared on the landfill’s surface due to methane gas leaks,” explained environmental engineer Ziad Abi Chaker to Daraj. He elaborated that “the accumulation of organic waste in landfills cuts off oxygen from the lower layers, causing anaerobic fermentation that produces methane, a highly flammable gas.”

Environmental management specialist and Waste Coalition member Samar Khalil told Daraj that the Bourj Hammoud landfill contains “a mix of waste types, including hazardous, ordinary, plastic, medical waste, and materials with heavy metals.” She added that the fire released these substances into the air, forming toxic compounds like dioxins and furans. Exposure to such materials, Khalil warned, could lead to severe health conditions such as cancer and congenital disabilities if these compounds are transferred from mother to fetus.

Abi Chaker emphasized that the Bourj Hammoud landfill is no longer a sanitary site but rather an unregulated dump. Greenpeace stated that the fire released “toxic smoke resulting from the burning of organic and non-organic materials such as plastic. This waste becomes a perpetually burning mass, especially in a landfill as large as Bourj Hammoud. The toxic smoke contains hazardous substances like methane, dioxins, and furans, posing serious public health threats and increasing risks of respiratory and cancerous diseases.”

Lawyer Jad Tohme told Daraj that the Bourj Hammoud landfill violates Article 30 of Law 444/2002, which prohibits the discharge, dumping, or burning of substances in Lebanese territorial waters that could directly or indirectly harm human health, marine resources, activities, organisms, navigation, fishing, plants, algae, or water quality. “The landfill contravenes Law 80/2018 on Solid Waste Management, particularly Article 4, which mandates the environmentally sound management of solid waste to prevent surface and groundwater contamination and protect public health,” he added.

The fire at Bourj Hammoud serves as a stark example of the environmental toll caused by the proliferation of unregulated landfills, which frequently ignite across the country. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), methane is responsible for approximately 30 percent of the current rise in global temperatures, making it a major pollutant resulting from such practices.

Solid Waste Emergency Plans

The crisis at the Bourj Hammoud landfill has reignited concerns about the return of Lebanon’s infamous waste crises, reminiscent of those in 1996 and 2015. However, the waste crisis was never resolved to begin with,” environmental management specialist and Waste Coalition member Samar Khalil told Daraj. She defines the waste crisis as “a lack of environmental and public health protection coupled with poor resource management.”

Modern solutions for solid waste management emphasize shifting from waste “disposal” to treating waste as a resource. However, Lebanon lacks an integrated waste management system to facilitate the transition from a linear to a circular economy. For over two decades, government efforts have focused on issuing emergency decrees rather than adopting a comprehensive national plan for waste management, a step delayed until early 2024.

Instead of addressing the root of the issue, successive governments have focused on concealing waste from public view by establishing new landfills or expanding old ones. This pattern was evident with the Naameh landfill from 1996 to 2015 and the Bourj Hammoud and Costa Brava landfills from 2015 to 2024, both of which surpassed their capacity.

In 1996, the waste crisis erupted after the closure of the old Bourj Hammoud landfill and a fire at the Amrousieh incinerator under mysterious circumstances. The capital was buried in waste until an emergency plan was implemented, including the opening of the Naameh landfill, intended to operate for just ten years but remained open for 17 years. The government later approved a second emergency plan to reopen the Bourj Hammoud landfill, initially set to operate for only four years until 2020.

The Lebanese government has followed a discriminatory approach to waste management, implementing inequitable plans that excluded certain regions. Emergency plans in 1996 and 2015 covered only Beirut and Mount Lebanon (excluding Byblos), accounting for about 18.74% of Lebanon’s total land area. Other regions were left to fend for themselves without financial or technical support, leading to the proliferation of unregulated dumps nationwide. According to Human Rights Watch, Lebanon had 941 open dumps in 2017, with 150 sites burning waste weekly.

The environmental and health impacts of waste dumped into valleys and rivers reflect Lebanon’s failure to uphold its obligations under the Stockholm Convention, which commits signatories to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants. This neglect also violates UN Human Rights Council Resolution 16/11, which calls on states to “commit to protecting human rights in environmental policy-making.” Speaking to Daraj, ISWA President James Law stated: “Waste management is a fundamental human right we owe to people. Without it, we fail to treat them as human beings, don’t we? At least that’s what we believe.”

Poor waste management is a violation of the human right to a safe and healthy environment, recognized by both the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. Although General Assembly resolutions are “non-binding,” states are obligated to uphold this right as part of international customary law, as highlighted by David Boyd, a former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment. Notably, Lebanon has enshrined all UN charters, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as integral to its constitution.

Environmental crimes resulting from four decades of poor waste management in Lebanon extend beyond the country’s borders. The national waste management strategy, however, has failed to meet expectations. Set for a 20-year implementation timeline, the plan’s duration is excessive given existing studies and international experiences that offer solutions more swiftly. The strategy outlines a phased elimination of open dumping and burning over seven years, meaning environmental crimes will persist until at least 2031 unless the plan remains shelved.

“Reducing methane emissions is the fastest way to combat climate change,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Program. Finding effective solutions to unregulated dumping and burning is critical for Lebanon’s contribution to mitigating climate change linked to its waste crisis. Abi Chaker told Daraj: “Resolving this crisis begins with enhancing administrative decentralization, releasing municipal funds, and empowering municipalities to collect fees for solid waste management services.” Law added, “There are plenty of good plans in Lebanon, and significant money has been spent on studies. All you need to do is follow through and implement the plans you already have.” He emphasized that “inaction is no longer an option.”


This report was produced with support from the Qarib program, implemented by the French media development agency CFI and funded by the French Development Agency (AFD).