Jad Kaj | Staff Writer
Countless are the times where I see piles of domestic garbage getting bigger and bigger as the days pass, especially at garbage dumps, whether beside my house or on my way to university.
This has been an issue mainly since 2015 – when Lebanon’s garbage crisis started. Since then, many open garbage dump sites have started appearing throughout Lebanon, the majority of which are managed by municipalities [1]. A study from 2014, before the onset of the garbage crisis, states that more than 75% of Lebanon’s total waste (excluding Beirut & Mount Lebanon) is thrown in landfills (48%) and open dumps (29%) [3].
What makes matters worse is Lebanon’s poor waste management system. Industrial waste, which contains potentially hazardous substances, is commonly mixed with domestic waste because of the absence of proper waste documentation and the lack of industrial waste treatment facilities, combined with poor legislation and loose governmental monitoring [4], [9]. Moreover, even medical, slaughterhouse, radioactive & electronic waste commonly get dumped and mixed with domestic municipal waste and end up in landfills/dumpsites and/or sewage [5].
From the myriad of harmful effects of such practices, I’m going to solely focus on the harmful effects of burning such waste out in the open, especially among or close to residential sites. Unfortunately, open burning of municipal garbage has been a common practice, especially in poorer areas in Lebanon, not only on the individual level but also on the level of dumpsites [1].
Before diving into the harmful effects of garbage burning, it’s good to have a general sense about the types of garbage into which Lebanon categorizes.
As seen in the figure above, there are four main types of garbage set by the Lebanese government. Domestic waste, or municipal waste, is the largest waste category and is generated by the domestic residential sector [4]; it is what we’ll be talking about in this article. Industrial waste, on the other hand, is waste generated by the industrial sector (factories, refineries, etc.). Moreover, slaughterhouse waste is the waste generated from the slaughtering of animals (mainly for the meat industry) [4]. Finally, medical waste is waste generated by the medical sector (hospitals, medical labs, infirmaries, etc.) [4].
The composition of domestic waste usually varies from country to country, depending on various factors. In Lebanon’s case, the following figure demonstrates the distribution of the various constituents of municipal garbage:
Now that the general idea of domestic garbage has been made clearer, it is time to illustrate what exactly is generated when domestic garbage is burned. Low-temperature combustion, which is an innate characteristic of open burning, can generate a lot of hazardous substances [6], including:
| Category | Pollutant | Potential Health Hazard |
| Greenhouse Gases | Carbon Dioxide | Cardiorespiratory failure |
| Climate change associated risks | ||
| Carbon Monoxide | Severe symptoms include ataxia, vertigo, seizures, loss of consciousness, & death | |
| Methane | Respiratory arrest | |
| Climate change associated risks | ||
| Particulate Matter | Coarse Particulates (PM10) | Lung cancer
Respiratory diseases Heart failure |
| Fine Particulates (PM2.5) | ||
| Black and Organic Carbon | ||
| Persistent Organic Pollutants | Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) | Skin, bladder, & lung cancer
Poor cognitive development |
| Dioxin, Furans & Dioxin-like Compounds | Lymphoma
Leukemia Lung cancer Reproductive issues Neurodevelopmental issues Developmental issues |
|
| Benzene | Chromosomal mutations Acute myeloid leukemia | |
| Miscellaneous Substances | Hydrogen Chloride | Respiratory issues
Shortness of breath Eye problems |
| Formaldehyde | Burning eyes, nausea, coughing & skin irritation
Nasal Cancer |
|
| Heavy Metals (i.e., Mercury, Lead, Arsenic, etc.) | Heavy metal poisoning (symptoms and effects depend on each heavy metal) |
Table 1. The main pollutants accompanying domestic waste burning and their potential health hazards [2], [7], [8].
It is important to note that although the table above mostly highlights the short and long-term human-related health hazards associated with the substances released during fuel burning, the latter has various other environmental hazards, including but not limited to:
- Fire hazard, possibly causing uncontrollable fires especially if trees are close to the burning site
- Polluting the soil, affecting soil fertility [2]
- Polluting rivers, lakes, groundwater, and oceans, which consequently affects land and ocean biodiversity and animal populations [2]
The following schematic summarizes how many of the previous substances affect our health and the environment around us:
Solutions:
When it comes to proposing solutions to the problem of open burning of garbage, several levels must be taken into consideration. At one level, the individual or citizen cannot be excused from their actions and should be held responsible. A bigger chunk of responsibility should be also given at the level of NGOs and any other societal collective action. However, the largest chunk of responsibility, especially in the long run, should be given to Lebanon’s government. It is important to note that citizens’ involvement and government intervention, given the current economic situation and crippling corruption, respectively, would make them not very reliable agents of change and places more pressure on NGOs.
On the individual level [1], [7], [8]:
- Be mindful about the amount of waste that you’re producing and try to reduce it by:
- Avoiding disposable items (such as plastic bags) and rely on more durable/reusable/refillable items (such as cloth bags)
- Buying items in bulk instead of individually wrapped or single-serving sizes
- Prolong your items’ lifecycle before throwing it in the garbage by:
- Giving no-longer-used clothes, furniture, books, magazines, toys, etc. to friends or to those in need
- Fixing/repairing broken/torn items
- Compost organic waste in your backyard (if applicable)
- Act as agents of change by educating your family, friends, and neighbors about the issue and by advocating for safer garbage handling practices
- Keep in mind that open burning on waste is against Lebanon’s environmental protection laws. It’s illegal!
On the societal (NGO) level:
- Educate the public about the health and environmental hazards of open burning of waste by [6]:
- Doing awareness campaigns on social media
- Going on TV interviews
- Giving high-school students educational and awareness lectures
- Educating people in rural areas
- Generate regular studies, surveys, and reports on the current waste situation and propose solutions, keeping the public informed on one hand and aiding the government on the other.
On the governmental level [1]:
- Propose and implement a completely new national waste collection and management system (integrated solid waste management), making it more clear, stringent, and up to date.
- Work on allocating more funds for growing and developing the current garbage plants to process more garbage in less time, with less reliance on landfills/dumpsites and more reliance on environment-friendly routes (such as recycling).
- Increase budgets for the Ministry of Environment to improve environmental monitoring and enforce the environmental protection laws.
- Launch a public platform that provides a way for citizens to report cases on open burning of waste.
References
[1] “‘As if you’re inhaling your death,’” Hrw.org, 01-Dec-2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/12/01/if-youre-inhaling-your-death/health-risks-burning-waste-lebanon. [Accessed: 30-Oct-2021].
[2] A. Cogut, “Open burning of waste: A global health disaster,” Regions20.org. [Online]. Available: https://regions20.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/OPEN-BURNING-OF-WASTE-A-GLOBAL-HEALTH-DISASTER_R20-Research-Paper_Final_29.05.2017.pdf. [Accessed: 30-Oct-2021].
[3] “Waste in Lebanon,” Gmiproject.eu. [Online]. Available: https://gmiproject.eu/?page_id=928. [Accessed: 30-Oct-2021].
[4] Ismail I. Abbas, Jinane K. Chaaban, Abdel-Rahman Al-Rabaa, Ali A. Shaar, Ed., Solid Waste Management in Lebanon: Challenges and Recommendations, vol. 4, no. 2. Premier Publishers, 2017.
[5] Elard, Ministry of Environment, “Provision of consultancy services for the preparation of a master plan for the closure and rehabilitation of uncontrolled dumps throughout the country of Lebanon,” 2017.
[6] Cook, E., Velis, C.A. (2020). Global Review on Safer End of Engineered Life. Engineering X (founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Lloyd’s Register Foundation) DOI: 10.5518/100/58. Available: https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/seel-global-review. [Accessed: 30-Oct-2021].
[7] Environment and C. C. Canada, “Open burning of garbage: health and environmental risks,” Canada.ca, 03-May-2010. [Online]. Available: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/municipal-solid/environment/open-burning-garbage-health-risks.html. [Accessed: 30-Oct-2021].
[8] “Does Burning Trash Make it Disappear?,” Health.ny.gov. [Online]. Available: https://health.ny.gov/environmental/outdoors/air/trash.htm. [Accessed: 30-Oct-2021].
[9] SWEEP-Net, “Country report on the solid waste management in Lebanon,” April 2014. [Online]. Available: http://www.moe.gov.lb/getattachment/bcb5021c-adaa-4ef9-9649-0b0bc410d4cb/Country-Report-on-Solid-Waste-Management-in-Lebano.aspx. [Accessed: 30-Oct-2021].