Solid Waste Management in Lebanon

Solid waste management in Lebanon faces persistent challenges: limited infrastructure, weak policy reinforcement, and the exclusion of the informal sector. This economic sector is mostly not registered, regulated or taxed by the state. Waste pickers currently only recover around 20 per cent of the waste, out of which only six per cent reaches recycling facilities.

Against this backdrop, Lamia Jaber, Graduate Research Assistant in the Circular Systems Research Unit at the Wuppertal Institute explored current waste management systems in the region Beirut and Mount Lebanon as part of her Master’s thesis and debates how the informal sector could be integrated into them. To this end, she conducted interviews with different stakeholders in the waste value chain, site visits and an analysis of Solid Waste Management policies and frameworks. As a result, she presents four modalities to integrate the informal sector into the waste management systems:

• Incremental improvement approach: Efforts such as basic support, recognition and better working conditions optimise circumstances for the informal sector under the current system with minimal intervention.
• Extended Producer Responsibility: Producers finance waste collection and recycling or disposal. For these systems, the participation and inclusion of the informal sector is necessary, both to ensure their smooth operation and to protect informal workers.
• Decentralised waste management: This fosters close cooperation between local authorities and the informal factor, enabling its members to participate in decision making that directly impacts them.
• Public–private partnerships: Collaborations between municipalities, the private and the informal sector share responsibility and work together towards long-term sustainability using circular economy models. This practice is common in Lebanon.

"In practice, these approaches are not mutually exclusive but rather interlinked: depending on local conditions, institutional context, and available resources combining different elements is reasonable – especially in Lebanon, where formal and informal actors coexist in a complex manner", explains Lamia Jaber. This blended strategy allows for gradual improvement and fosters innovation and inclusivity within the waste sector.

Barriers on the way towards sustainable waste management in Lebanon

The publication was derived from the ReMaL project, a four-year project funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN) to reduce marine litter in Lebanon. The thesis examines structural and governance-related challenges within Lebanon's solid waste management system, and the informal sector in specific that became evident throughout the project. Additionally to financial, institutional and organisational barriers, waste management in Lebanon also faces technical and operational challenges. The citizens and public awareness also play a key role: For example, certain professions, such as waste pickers, are widely seen as low-status work.

The author also suggests improvement for the existing framework: Despite providing a relatively good foundation, the framework remains hindered by inconsistencies and implementation challenges. Stronger national and local policies, clearer regulations, and better enforcement are therefore necessary. The author also recommends preventive measures such as reducing packaging to prevent waste.

"Wuppertaler Studienarbeiten zur nachhaltigen Entwicklung" is a series which publishes scientific diploma and master theses. The theses have been supervised by the Wuppertal Institute in cooperation with the respective universities, accepted by the universities and given an excellent mark. Burcu Gözet, Co-Head of the Research Unit Circular Systems at the Wuppertal Institute, supervised this Master's thesis.

The entire study can be downloaded free of charge via the following link.