The massive explosion that ripped through Beirut’s port in August 2020 left behind a tangled mess of concrete, metal and broken glass. The force of the blast, in which a stockpile of ammonium nitrate exploded, was felt more than 20km away.
With the Lebanese capital facing a massive cleanup effort, arcenciel was one of many non-profit groups to step in, gathering 12,000 tonnes of mostly shattered glass from destroyed neighbourhoods.
That glass would be crushed, melted and remoulded for future use.
“Following the Beirut blast, we had several projects to help rehabilitate neighbourhoods and collect shattered glass,” said Marc-Henri Karam, who leads arcenciel’s environment programmes.
The effort was emblematic of the role that arcenciel, this year’s Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action, has played in helping Lebanon manage its waste over the past two decades.
In a country that has struggled with waste management, the volunteer-led organization, which was founded in 1985, has launched programmes to recycle everything from medical waste to clothes. With years of expertise as a leading entity on treating hospital waste, it also helped Lebanon to develop its first waste management law.
“We identified lots of problems affecting the environment and especially the community and the health of society,” said Robin Richa, arcenciel’s General Manager. “We have tried to be strategic in identifying activities where we can make a sustainable impact.”
Managing waste
Arcenciel was created to support people wounded in Lebanon’s civil war. Its ethos of serving society has carried through to its present-day activities, which focus on helping marginalized people contribute to their communities, while encouraging environmental sustainability and the conservation of natural resources.
Through its Sustainable Agriculture and Environment programme, arcenciel provides solid waste management services, expertise and advocacy in Lebanon, a country which needed all the support it can to dispose of garbage safely and systematically. In 2003, the organization began treating medical waste which, if left untreated in open dumpsites and landfills, can cause infection, transmit diseases, contaminate water and pollute ecosystems.
Today, arcenciel treats 87 per cent of Lebanon’s hospital waste, using steam sterilization machines to convert it into domestic waste. Its role was even more urgent during the COVID-19 pandemic, which generated tens of thousands of tonnes of extra medical waste globally – from syringes, needles and test kits to masks, gloves and personal protective equipment. In 2020 alone, arcenciel treated 996 tonnes of medical waste.
“We are reducing the risk of infections and infectious waste in landfills. The impact is cleaner soil, cleaner groundwater and better health for everyone,” said Karam.
“Reducing waste and promoting recycling is critical to dismantling the throwaway culture that is polluting our planet and driving the climate emergency,” said Inger Andersen, the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme. “Arcenciel’s leadership in waste management is inspiring. The organization is helping to build a healthy environment for future generations.”
Crisis response
Environmentally sound waste management is critical for protecting ecosystems, and ultimately public health, which are core objectives of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
Responding to crises has been a hallmark of arcenciel’s work. In 2015, when the closure of the Naameh landfill caused rubbish to pile up on the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, arcenciel more than doubled the amount of material it recycled, collecting 852 tonnes of waste. It also published a manual on effective waste management, trained municipalities in running their own waste management centres and raised public awareness on the issue.
The organization’s reuse-and-recycle philosophy also extends to old furniture and clothes. Anything that can be salvaged is saved from the landfill, repurposed and re-sold.
Legal precedent
Using its expertise in healthcare waste management, arcenciel, with the support of Beirut-based Université Saint Joseph and the Ministry of Health, published a manual setting out different types of healthcare waste, their proper treatment and disposal. This has become a vital tool in the application of Lebanon’s 2002/13389 decree on healthcare waste.
“The law makes it mandatory for hospitals to treat their waste and this is one of our biggest achievements,” said Karam.
In addition, arcenciel contributed to the drafting of the first solid waste management law that includes sorting from source and recycling, which passed in 2018. Together with the Ministry of Environment and Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform, arcenciel also crafted a national strategy based on years of work in the waste management sector.
Building for the future
In the Domaine de Taanayel, a 2.3 sq km plot of land in the Bekaa region, arcenciel has built a farm which runs almost exclusively on solar power, part of an effort to promote sustainable agriculture. To reduce soil erosion and water consumption, arcenciel uses fertigation, a process by which liquid fertilizer is delivered to plants in a more targeted way through the irrigation system. The Domaine is also the region’s only producer of biopesticides, which produce less toxic residue than conventional chemical pesticides. An ecolodge at the site helps to promote responsible tourism which respects the local environment and its ecosystems.
Arcenciel has helped improve waste management in two of Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camps and in three Syrian refugee camps in the Bekaa region. In Bekaa, the organization showed residents how to collect, sort and recycle waste, improving living conditions and providing an income for refugees.
Although Lebanon’s successive crises have presented many challenges, arcenciel’s team say they are determined to continue their work to protect the environment for generations to come.
“Building something for the future is what motivates us,” Richa said.
