Lebanese government sets a new plan for waste disposal

Lebanese anti-government protesters shout slogans as they hold their national flags, during a protest against the on-going trash crisis and government corruption, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. Lebanon’s prime minister says he hopes that political talks between senior politicians will help end government paralysis that has sparked angry street protests. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

The Lebanese government has agreed to resume waste disposal after weeks of protests over piles of rubbish left in the streets of the capital Beirut.

Ministers decided in an emergency meeting to give local municipalities the authority to treat local waste.

Protests triggered by rotting rubbish in Beirut quickly grew into a wider attack on the perceived corruption and incompetence of politicians. Demonstrators earlier pelted eggs at politicians’ cars outside parliament.

Breaking the deadlock, Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayeb approved on Wednesday a deal that devolves waste management duties to municipalities – a central demand of the protesters – and authorises the opening of two new landfills.

The rubbish crisis began after the country’s largest landfill in Naameh, south of Beirut, shut down in July with no ready alternative. The government has been unable to agree on another site until now.

As part of Wednesday’s agreement, Naameh landfill will also be temporarily reopened to dispose of any rubbish that remains there.

Outside the parliament building, activists pinned a large banner onto barbed wire showing the photos of the 128 members of parliament with the words in Arabic: “You have failed in everything…Go home.”