Lebanese government approves plan to solve trash crisis

The Lebanese government on Saturday approved a plan to solve a seven-month garbage crisis that has fuelled protests against the dysfunctional state and raised concerns for public health. Two landfills will be established near Beirut, and a third one south of the city will be reopened for two months to receive rubbish that has piled up since July, Information Minister said. The Lebanese trash crisis began when the landfill south of Beirut was closed with no plan in place for an alternative. The government had been working on a plan to export the garbage. But this was scrapped last month because the firm chosen failed to obtain documents showing that Russia, the intended destination, had agreed to accept it. The crisis touched off an unprecedented wave of protests last year by Lebanese organising independently of the main political parties. Hundreds of protesters marched through Beirut to the government's headquarters on Saturday. One of the protesters, Wasef Haraka, said the government plan was unsustainable. "We will continue to confront this matter in the street to find a sustainable, real, hygienic solution," he said.