Bio-diversity

The main aim of the project is to increase the engagement of civil society organizations and municipalities in finding and adopting a sustainable waste management plan away from corruption. The specific objectives of the project are: 1- Build the capacities of civil society organizations on advocacy skills in order to advocate for policy change in existing waste management policies. 2- Increase the collaborative work between civil society organizations and government authorities on environmental issues, fostering more democratic participation at the local level. 3- Increase the awareness of community members and private enterprises on the negative effects of inadequate waste management practices to the environment and the community, promoting environmental practices such as the use of cloth bags instead of plastic bags. 4- Implement a lobbying campaign, in coordination with the NCSP to continue advocating towards a solid waste management law in the parliament. The Waste management main problem in Lebanon is not technical, it is mostly related to the management processes and how waste is treated waste. The current policy for more than 60% of the country s solid waste describes waste as a money consumer, where we believe that this could be turned into opportunity for economic profit based on changes in attitude for more developed practices able to generate money out of the waste produced. Many environmental NGOs have provided an example out of that, T.E.R.R.E Liban, Arc En Ciel, and other NGOs who are active in the Zero Waste Coalition, have implemented an individual initiative in which they collected papers and plastic bottles to recycle and generate a revenue they used to provide wheelchairs, and other free services to the Lebanese society. Dar al Handasa have conducted a study back in 2011 in which it shows that more than half of the generated daily waste in Lebanon is composed out of organic matter in which they can be easily turned into compost, whereas the remaining composed of papers, metals, glass, and other materials which can be sold without any treatment, and we are left here is less than 10% of inert. Dioxin, Carbon monoxide, and other toxic substances that are usually generated by unconsidered burning methods have always been an issue in this country, where we have witnessed thousands of such techniques being used by households around the country. Generally speaking, the treatment of plastic has been a main concern for a lot of countries worldwide, and why the coalition decided to tackle the plastic bags issue, is that global studies have shown it, as the leading in the complexity of the treatment due to its degradability nature and the harm it causes to the environment whether on the short or long term run. Moreover Turkey and Cyprus have been protesting against the Lebanese waste regurgitating out of the sea whereas at the same time our landfills in Tripoli and Neameh are over saturated with waste of all types not mentioning the drastic impact it has on the surrounding communities which lead to a social strike in the streets stopping the influx of waste containing trucks to the Neameh landfill. The coalition will come up with a model for changing the attitude of the Lebanese consumers by creating this campaign, where the use and the consumption of the plastic bags is reduced to the minimum.

Lebanon