Beirut,
13 November 2003 –
Today Lebanon’s major national and international
NGOs challenged government’s current plans
for solid waste management by launching “the
national campaign for solid waste management”
in a press conference at the syndicate of press.
The campaign condemns the procedure by which
the Lebanese authorities has been and are handling
Lebanon’s waste crisis, and proposes a
step wise solution for the issue, based on considering
waste as a resource, rather than something to
get rid of.
Habib
Maalouf, who spoke on behalf of the signed NGOs
explained how Lebanese environmental groups
have been working on this issue separately and
with different objectives, but with similar
principles. “We have realized that we
need to unify our efforts in order to force
our demands for a proper waste management strategy”,
said Maalouf.
“The
government should adopt a waste management strategy
based on source separation of waste, composting
of organic waste, and recycling of inorganic
resources”, he added. Maalouf also presented
the coalition’s demand paper. “Public
participation in the process of waste management
is a must, especially in the guidelines and
contracts being developed by the Council of
Development and Reconstruction (CDR)”
Maalouf explained.
The
coalition is supported by the Global Alliance
for Incineration Alternatives (GAIA) that welcomes
the initiative to bring groups together in exploring
and promoting real solutions to the waste problems
that Lebanon faces. “This collaborative
project, we hope, will produce robust and creative
strategies for advancing healthy, sustainable
and job-creating approaches for managing waste
resource at the community-level and throughout
the whole country”, said Greenpeace campaigner
in Lebanon, Wael Hmaidan, who was speaking on
behalf of GAIA.
GAIA
is a worldwide alliance of non-profit organizations
and individuals who oppose incinerators, landfills,
and other end-of-pipe interventions. Promoting
Zero Waste as a concrete alternative to the
polluting and wasteful practice of dumping or
incinerating discards is a key objective of
the alliance.
For
more information please contact the coalition:
Tel: 00 961 3 755100, 00 961 3 350956
Fax: 00 961 1 785667, 00 961 1 752140
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