Mohammed Zaatari
A potential project to establish a waste-sorting plant in the district of Tyre in cooperation with peacekeepers might help solve the garbage crisis in the area, sources told The Daily Star.
Sources from the Union of Tyre Municipalities said that a suggestion had been made as part of series of projects underway in south Lebanon that relate to building a waste-sorting plant in Tyre in collaboration with UNIFIL.
The sources added that information was being collected about the amount of waste produced in the area surrounding Tyre as part of the plan. Work is also underway to designate an area to build the plant.
Aid from associations and international organizations affiliated with U.N. and the Lebanese government is possible, the sources said.
The sources said they were hopeful the project might help Tyre overcome its debilitating waste crisis and preserve its touristic sites.
Under the plan, villages and towns in the Tyre district would be able to stop burning trash with the help of UNIFIL.
In October, the local trash crisis escalated and now threatens the district after the municipality union shut down the Burj Shemali dump.
The dump was created last month, but due to its relative proximity to the headquarters of the UNIFIL’s South Korean contingent, it was shut down.
At the time sources told The Daily that an owner of another piece of land, which is located even closer to the Korean contingent, unexpectedly made a separate agreement with Sukleen to transfer some of Beirut’s untreated waste onto his land.
The South Korean contingent denied reports that it threatened to withdraw from its peacekeeping mission and halt the services it regularly provides to citizens in areas of operation over the crisis.
The contingent’s press office clarified that it had only asked for one of the two dumps to be closed, because its work was being affected.
The South Korea contingent will continue to provide services to support the residents of the five Tyre villages it works in, it added.
The contingent mainly operates around the southern villages of Abbasieh, Shabriha, Tayr Dibbah, Al-Burghuliyah and Burj Rahal.
The South Korean UNIFIL contingent has been active since July 2007, almost one year after the end of Israel’s 2006 war against Lebanon. The fighting, which killed 1,200 Lebanese, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, came to an end under U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.
Some services, however, were canceled, the press office said, for several reasons including Korean thanksgiving, preparation for military training and joint military training.
Nevertheless, it said that the contingent would implement 17 expected projects including a generator to supply water to the area.
The contingent is working on 41 projects related to waste, roads and creating sewage pipelines.
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