Going green in south Lebanon

Tag : Cement Shoes

Published Date: July 12, 2008 AYTARUN, Lebanon: The large building near the border with Israelwas already earmarked to be a green pioneer in Lebanon when it wasblown apart by two missiles during the short sharp summer war of2006. Now the demolished building has been rebuilt - and with it aground-breaking environmental project has risen from its own ashes.In a country with serious waste management problems, thewar-ravaged small town of Aytarun in the south lies in the vanguardof recycling, setting an example it is hoped will be f
ollowed by others.

Located just metres from the frontier, Aytarun was devastated bythe 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in July and August twoyears ago. On the village's edge is the Centre for Solid WasteManagement, a 700-sq-m structure rebuilt with Italian assistanceafter the conflict.

The centre refuses to dump any waste at all. "Everything isrecycled, nothing is thrown away," says Ziad Abichaker of CedarEnvironmental, a group that specialises in recycling technology."We wanted to create the example of a rural town which not onlygets rid of its waste but also uses it to benefit organicagriculture. "Some things are stored as we research and developoutlets for them," Abichaker adds, saying shoes can be used in aspecial cement for the manufacture of public benches.

The facility's five employees patiently sort through potatopeelings, plastic bottles and old clothing before recycling propercan begin. In many rural areas of Lebanon municipalities burn solidwaste, causing an unbearable stench and often sparking wildcatforest fires. "People did not like the smell of burning rubbish.This project is a blessing for them," Abichaker says of thetraditional method of incineration.

Sawsan Bou Fakhreddine of the Association for Forests, Developmentand Conservation says domestic waste forms 90 percent of all thecountry's rubbish. "We produce 1.5 million tons of solid wasteannually in Lebanon, half of it organic," she adds. Landfills areoverflowing, and the largest - in the southern city of Sidon - isat serious risk of collapsing into the sea.

The major problem is the lack of a national management plan," BouFakhreddine says, and cites a 1997 government emergency plan aimedat tackling the problem. It didn't work. One site intended for "40percent of the waste ended up getting 80 percent, and it expandedin a way that was not at all environmentally friendly," she adds.

Cedar Environmental is not the first project of its kind insouthern Lebanon, which suffered widespread devastation during thewar. In Aytarun the goal is zero percent waste. The "greenengineers" process organic matter into compost for agricultural usein what is, quite literally, a growth area.

A truck collects six tons of household waste daily from the town ofsome 8,000 residents and from the nearby hamlet of Blida. This isthen processed by locally made machinery. The "star" is a compostdrum in which organic matter is mixed with an enzyme mixture toaccelerate fermentation over three days. "The composting process isbased on aerobic fermentation which makes the reaction faster andodourless," says Abichaker. Conveyor belts carry raw compost to atrommel screen for sifting. "The compost passes
through several times to be purified and then we let it mature fortwo weeks," he says.

Our humus, which is very pure, meets European standards for compostto be used in organic agriculture. "At the moment we give thecompost to Aytarun farmers for free. I planted 3,000 square metresof organic wheat on an experimental basis to encourage them," addsAbichaker.

The June harvest was most encouraging. Abichaker tested his composton three different plots of land. One was planted using nofertilizer, another was planted using about three cubic metres ofcompost, and the third used about six cubic metres. "The third hadthe best results by far in growth and yield. Next year I'm going toplant 20 acres even if I have to take out a loan.

Turning traditional agricultural methods organic is "the future ofagriculture in Lebanon," the engineer believes. "Lebanon stoppedgrowing wheat because it was cheaper to import it. Now with risingwheat prices we will grow it and sell it. We are growing itorganically so we can even sell it for more," he adds.
Nothing is left to chance at the recycling centre. Plastic bottlesand cans are flattened with a press then sold. "We will install anannex to the recycling unit where used clothing will be washed andhave any metal removed before being sold as fabric to furnituremanufacturers," says Abichaker.

The profits will go to the local municipality. "Nothing is burned,nothing hidden underground. This is an example of an industry withno environmental impact," he says, adding that he hopes to see hismethod expand throughout Lebanon. "It's a snowball effect and we'rein the initial stages. If every four or five villages start asimilar project, there won't be household waste problems in Lebanonany more. - AFP