Chhim Residents Block Road to Protest Garbage Pileup

Residents of the Iqlim al-Kharroub town of Chhim blocked a vital road on Monday to protest the accumulation of garbage on the streets, as the entire country continued to reel from an unprecedented waste management crisis.

“A large group of residents blocked the main market's road at 8:00 pm with the accumulating trash, in protest at the municipality's failure to collect the garbage,” state-run National News Agency reported.

It said the move “created a severe traffic jam, seeing as the blocked road is vital for the Iqlim al-Kharroub region.”

Young men and residents also blocked the road at the town's main entrance to protest the piling up of the garbage.

The roads were eventually reopened “after intensive contacts and efforts with the protesters,” NNA said, without elaborating on the identities of the mediators.

The growing garbage crisis erupted after the closure of the Naameh landfill on July 17.

The crisis has seen streets overflowing with waste and the air filled with the smell of rotting garbage for around two weeks. Residents have taken to the streets in areas across Lebanon to protest authorities' failure to tackle the problem.

Experts have urged the government to devise a comprehensive waste management solution that would include more recycling and composting to reduce the amount of trash going into landfills.

But so far there has been no evidence of such a plan, and there is already opposition to temporary solutions proposed by the government.

Y.R.