Residents of villages neighboring the Srar dump in north Lebanon Thursday railed against the Council of Development and Reconstruction over a sudden increase of unpleasant odors.
"Work began four days ago in the dump and unpleasant smells have already spread to the neighboring towns, forcing some of the residents to leave their homes," the residents wrote in a joint statement.
They continued to say that they "sensed lack of seriousness and had lost trust in the Council of Development and Reconstruction after failing to manage the project," claiming that they were deceived by promises to build a sanitary landfill in the area.
According to Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb's trash plan, the Council of Development and Construction was responsible for conducting studies on the rehabilitation of the Srar dump in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and supervising the establishment of another dump in east Lebanon.
"We reiterate that we don't trust the state and the Council of Development and Reconstruction," the statement said, rejecting efforts to see the Srar dump project through.
The Srar dump is owned by Khaldoun Yaseen Merehbi, who reportedly has between 2 and 4 million square meters of land at his disposal. While it currently accepts 400 tons of waste each day, a team of specialists concluded that it could accommodate larger amounts of trash after surveying the area. However, activists and local residents remain opposed to transforming the dump into a large landfill over health and environmental concerns.
Merehbi announced on Tuesday that the dump would be able to receive Beirut's trash within the next few days.
