Lebanon generates approximately 2 million tons of municipal solid waste per year. Currently, waste is collected by various private companies and disposed of in landfills or open dumps. Two new landfills, Costa Brava and Bourj Hammoud, are under construction to replace the previous Naameh Landfill but challenges include a lack of enforcement of waste laws, weak public awareness of waste issues, and an increasing population. Moving forward, Lebanon needs to enhance capacity, public awareness, waste management networks, and private sector involvement to develop a sustainable approach to solid waste management.

1. Republic of Lebanon
Country info
Country Lebanon
Capital Beirut
Population 6 Million (2016)
Population growth 2.6 % (2016)
Geographical area 10,452 km2
Facts about Lebanon:
• Lebanon is the only Middle Eastern
country that doesn’t have a desert
• Beirut was named “World Book
Capital” in 2009
• The first alphabet was created in
Byblos, Lebanon.
Waste in Lebanon
Yearly MSW generation: 2 Million tons/year
Daily MSW generation: 1.05 kg/capita/day
Compositional analysis:
Waste Treatment Methods:
Current status
Public stakeholders
Council for Development & Construction (CDR)
Ministry of Environment (MoE)
Municipalities
Service provider
Sukleen (Central Beirut only)
CityBlu(Greater Beirut & Mount Lebanon)
Ramco (Metn & Kesrouan)
Previous disposal routes:
Naameh Landfill
Future project:
Costa Brava & Bourj Hammoud Landfill
Estimated budget: over 60 Mill $ & 109 Mill $
Capacity: 1.5 million tons waste
& 1.4 million tons for 4 years each
Status: Under Construction
Challenges
• Population growth
• Rapid growth of the urban areas and the big
cities
• Increase in the income per capita
• Absence of legal framework and poor
enforcement of the law
• Contradiction in environmental policies
• Social habits that does not encourage waste
minimization
• Social keenness to use new materials rather
than used ones
• Increase number of Syrian refugees in 2012
and 2013.
• Public participation and public awareness in
support of solid waste management are
weak.
• Vast majority of the population still seeing in
landfilling or incineration the only measures
and solutions for SWM.
Ways forward
• Ensuring capacity development
• Enhancing public awareness
• Establishing and support SWM networks
• Assess the prior policies and strategies of the
government, in order to establish a better
future of strategies and plans
• Guarantee an applicable and cost effective
execution of private sector involvement in the
SWM such as competitive biding, suitable
types of contracts guaranteeing probable
5.00%
9%
32%54.00%
Recycled
Composted
Open dumped
Landfilled