Summary

The project aims at strengthening national and communities’ capacity to move toward circular economy for social stabilization by improving plastics recycling and curbing plastic waste. 

The widespread uncontrolled dumping causes a range of environmental impacts on air, water and land, resulting in serious public health risks of vulnerable local communities in Lebanon. Single-use plastic bags (SUPB) rank among the most commonly found marine litter items in the Mediterranean Sea. In Lebanon, there is neither national measures for controlling plastic waste nor reliable data and its monitoring mechanism. While plastic accounts for 11.5% of total MSW, their composition, current states and practices for recycling and mass-balance are not known very well. Some firms recycle plastics, but the extent of this recycling activity varies according to the market condition due to lack of supportive incentives, regulations and adequate or comprehensive sorting infrastructure. 

The project lays the foundation for phase-out of single-use plastic bags and circular plastics economy in Lebanon while also addressing the urgent humanitarian needs as stipulated in the above. To achieve this, it is essential to strengthen the institutional capacity as well as developing data monitoring mechanism, which does not exist in Lebanon now. For this sake, being in line with Japan’s “MARINE Initiative”, the project will undertake technical assessments and develop step-by-step action plans and upgrade the plastic recycling facilities and systems including sorting at source, contributing to increase economics, quality and update of plastic recycling in Lebanon. Accordingly, the project will support NGOs in Recycling and sorting initiatives and will develop recycling lines at existing plastic recycling industries (3MPlast and GPI).

Background

It is estimated that Lebanon produces approximately 6,500 tons of municipal solid waste (MSW) per day across the country, which is composed of about 52.5% organic matter, 16% paper/cardboard, 11.5% plastics, 5.5% metal, 3.5% glass, and 11% inert and other materials. The incremental quantity of MSW attributed to displaced population is about 887 ton flow of the displaced population, accounting for 13.6% of the total MSW generated in Lebanon. Most of the generated waste ends up in dumpsites and landfills while 15%-20% is recovered as recyclable or reusable materials (paper, cardboard, plastic, metal, glass, organics, etc.) are sorted, and organic matter is converted into compost. 

In Lebanon, there is neither national measures for controlling plastic waste nor reliable data and its monitoring mechanism. While plastic accounts for 11.5% of total MSW, their composition by type (e.g. PET, HDPE, LDPE, PP, PE, PS, PVC etc.), current states and practices for recycling and mass-balance are not known very well. Some firms recycle plastics such as PET, HDPE, PP and PE, but the extent of this recycling activity varies according to the market condition due to lack of supportive incentives, regulations and adequate or comprehensive sorting infrastructure. Also, informal and semi-formal private sector, including some NGOs, activity plays an important role in waste collection and recycling throughout Lebanon. Recycling networks are created through a system of waste pickers and materials traders operating to recover materials before they are collected from points of generation or storage, and after disposal in a waste disposal facility. It is estimated that recycling market provides a means of livelihood for at least thousands of people along the value chain (collection, soring, recycling).

To address this issue, the project will undertake two main activities: 1) strengthening institutional capacity of Lebanese institution for phase-out of SUPB and circular economy by developing the sector strategy backed by the data of production and consumption of plastics in Lebanon, and 2) increasing the economy, quality and uptake of plastic recycling in Lebanon by upgrading the recycling systems via blended financing to the private industries.