Lebanon okays plan to end trash crisis

The organisers of Lebanon's "You Stink" mass protests over piles of festering trash in the streets yesterday criticised the government's long-awaited plan to deal with the crisis.

After a six-hour session, the cabinet announced late Wednesday measures including handing waste management duties to municipalities and temporarily reopening the country's largest landfill site.

But activists said the plan was too vague and did not meet their demands.

"Our first reaction to the plan is a negative one, especially in terms of the reopening of the Naameh landfill, even if it is temporary," said Lucien Bourjeily from the "You Stink" campaign.

He said it was unclear how waste management duties would be transferred to municipalities -- a key demand of his protest movement.

"What happened is what the government always resorts to when it wants to calm down the street: partial solutions, 10 percent of which will be implemented," Bourjeily told AFP.

Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Beirut in recent weeks to demand an end to long-standing political divisions that have affected even basic public services.

The waste management crisis began in July when the Naameh landfill closed, causing trash to pile up on roadsides and in parking lots and riverbeds.

It sparked broad-based protests in Beirut, where hundreds gathered again on Wednesday despite a sandstorm to demand a long-term solution to the trash fiasco.

Under the plan, the Naameh landfill is to be reopened for seven days to dump waste already in the streets, in a step that risks opposition from residents of nearby villages.

Over the next 18 months, two landfills in the northern region of Akkar and the eastern border area of Masnaa would take in waste as a medium-term measure.