The Health Risks of Burning Waste in Lebanon

[This report was originally issued by Human Rights Watch on 1 December 2017]

Summary

"It’s like there’s fog across the whole town. We are coughing all the time, unable to breathe, sometimes we wake up and see ash in our spit. The intensity of the smell would cause us to become dizzy.”
—Othman, Kfar Zabad, February 16, 2017

“When they burn we can’t breathe.... We’ve had to go to the hospital because of this.”
— Mohamed, Kfar Zabad, February 16, 2017

Open burning of waste is a dangerous and avoidable practice that takes place across Lebanon. Because it risks causing a range of short and long-term health problems, it implicates the Lebanese government’s legal obligations to protect the health of its citizens. In Lebanon, open burning is a consequence of the government’s failure to manage solid waste in a way that respects environmental and health laws designed to protect people. Children and older persons are at particular risk.

Open burning of waste occurs when existing waste management plans break down, such as occurred in Beirut and surrounding Mount Lebanon during a 2015 waste management crisis that saw garbage piling up in the streets. But it is also the result of the central government’s prioritization of waste collection and disposal in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, which produce just half of Lebanon’s municipal solid waste, while leaving other municipalities to fend for themselves without adequate financial support, technical expertise, and oversight.

The open burning of waste in Lebanon may have serious consequences for the health of people living nearby. A range of scientific studies have documented the dangers that emissions from the open burning of household waste pose to human health. These include exposure to fine particles, dioxins, volatile organic compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, and polychlorinated biphenyls, which have been linked to heart disease, cancer, skin diseases, asthma, and respiratory illnesses. The dangers of open burning of waste are compounded by the fact that Lebanon often does not properly dispose of industrial and healthcare waste, which may be mixed into the municipal solid waste stream.

Human Rights Watch found that those living near open burning reported an array of health problems consistent with the frequent and sustained inhalation of smoke from the open burning of waste. These included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coughing, throat irritation, skin conditions, and asthma. In many cases, interviewees described a temporal relationship between the burning of waste and their health condition; some developed a condition after the burning started or they moved to an area where burning was taking place. Others said their symptoms subsided after a municipality stopped burning or they moved away from an area where burning was taking place.

Because of its detrimental impact on health, the burning of waste triggers Lebanon’s obligations under international human rights law. Lebanon is a party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which requires it to take steps to achieve “the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.”

While other factors may play some part in these illnesses, the extent of air pollution from the open burning of waste, the correlation between these conditions and periods of open burning, and interviews with doctors and other public health experts suggest a causal relationship between air pollution from the open burning of waste and poor community health.

Ten doctors told Human Rights Watch that they believed the open burning of waste was causing respiratory illnesses. Doctors in and near Beirut often noted an increase in respiratory illness cases in areas that began burning waste after the 2015 waste management crisis.

People living near open garbage dumps in Lebanon explained how the burning of waste gravely affected other aspects of their lives: they were unable to spend time outside, had difficulty sleeping because of air pollution, or had to vacate their homes when burning was taking place. Some residents reported moving permanently to a different location to avoid the potential health effects of open burning of waste.

Leila, who lives in Sin el Fil in Beirut, described how burning of waste near her apartment since the summer of 2016, and ongoing at the time of the interview in November 2016, was affecting her:

It starts with the smell. And then this white smoke begins rising, and it encircles our building. The burning usually starts at night and lasts until dawn. I immediately run to the balcony, take in the laundry, and lock all the windows, all the doors. But the smell, the smoke, it stays there. We can’t turn on the air conditioning. We can’t sleep. We stay awake until the morning and we [feel like we are] suffocating. This happened last night, starting at midnight. It’s too much. Even when I leave the area it’s as if the smoke is still inside my lungs.

The vast majority of residents interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported health effects that they attributed to the burning and inhalation of smoke from the open burning of waste. Thirty-eight people said they were suffering from respiratory issues including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coughing, throat irritation, and asthma. According to an extensive body of scientific literature, these symptoms are consistent with exposure to open burning of waste. Thirty-two individuals had sought medical treatment for these respiratory illnesses, and two said that a doctor or hospital had prescribed oxygen masks.

Human Rights Watch also documented three cases in which open burning was taking place directly adjacent to schools. At one of the schools, near Naameh, administrators said that garbage was being dumped and burned across the street from the school for four days during October 2016, causing them to adopt emergency measures and send children home.

At three large dump sites, Human Rights Watch used an unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, to take aerial photographs. At each site, the images showed black scars from recent burns and ash deposits that indicate large burns on an earlier date.

In addition to the immediate health concerns, some families said that uncertainty over whether the burning would lead to more serious health effects, including cancer, was taking a heavy psychological toll. In only one case did an interviewee say that the municipality had provided their family with information about the risks of open burning and safety precautions to take. As a result, many expressed fear about the unknown risks and concern about the potential impact of the burning on their health and the health of their children. Parents expressed frustration that they were not able to protect their children from the potential health effects of the burning.

The open burning of waste in Lebanon has had a disproportionate effect on residents in lower income areas. A map of the open dumps in Lebanon provided to Human Rights Watch by the Ministry of Environment and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) shows that although there are more than 100 open dumps in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, some of the wealthiest areas of the country (and home to approximately 50 percent of the population), just nine of these are being burned. Meanwhile there are nearly 150 open burn dumps located across the rest of the country, home to the other 50 percent of the population. Most of the dumps at which open burning takes place regularly are located in some of the poorest areas in the country, including the Bekaa Valley, Nabatieh, and the south.

Lebanon has not implemented a national solid waste management plan that covers the entire country. According to the most recent government figures that are publicly available, Lebanon generated just over 2 million tons of solid municipal waste in 2014. According to researchers at the American University of Beirut, only 10-12 percent of Lebanon’s waste cannot be composted or recycled. But 77 percent is either openly dumped or landfilled. Based on data from the Ministry of Environment and UNDP, as of 2017 there are 941 open dumps in the country, including 617 municipal solid waste dumps. More than 150 of these dumps are open burned at least once a week on average.

Open burning of garbage also increased in Beirut and Mount Lebanon after the waste management system for those areas collapsed during the 2015 waste crisis. From the beginning of that crisis until June 30, 2017, Lebanon’s fire department said it responded to 3,612 reports of open burning of waste in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, and 814 in the rest of the country. According to the department, the number of open burning cases reported in Mount Lebanon rose 330 percent in 2015 and a further 250 percent in 2016.

The history of the waste management crisis in Lebanon goes back several decades, with a pattern of poor government planning and management; inadequate support to and oversight of areas outside of Beirut and Mount Lebanon; overuse of landfills, open dumping, and burning; a reliance on the private sector and international donors; and a lack of transparency. Waste management in Lebanon has historically not been based on sound environmental and public health best practices, and important decisions are often made on a last minute, emergency basis.

Since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990, the central government has focused its waste management efforts on Beirut and the Mount Lebanon governorate, while leaving other municipalities and governorates largely to their own devices.

Municipal officials outside of Beirut and Mount Lebanon complained that the central government was not providing adequate financial or technical support for waste management. Most officials said the central government was late in disbursing their share of the Independent Municipal Fund in recent years, making it difficult for municipalities to invest money in solid waste management. According to a report by the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, Independent Municipal Fund disbursements have been irregular, and subject to months-long delays and changing disbursement criteria. A 2010 Ministry of Environment report found that these delays contributed to open dumping. Although some of the municipalities have recently taken steps to curb open burning, residents expressed frustration that authorities were not taking their complaints seriously and at the delays in action despite repeated outcry and protests. Residents also expressed frustration that, despite repeated complaints to the municipalities where burning was taking place, no one was being held to account.

The Ministry of Environment is responsible for environmental monitoring, but appears to lack the necessary personnel and financial resources to do so effectively. The ministry’s budget in 2010 was just LBP7.325 billion (US$4.88 million).

During the 2015 waste management crisis, garbage piled up in the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon following the government’s closure of the central Naameh landfill without identifying an alternate site. A March 2016 cabinet decision ended that crisis by creating two new temporary landfills and calling for the exploration of waste-to-energy solutions in the longer term. This plan has largely removed waste from the streets in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, however both new landfills are mired in lawsuits and reportedly will reach capacity in 2018—a full two years before the government’s initial estimate of 2020. Discussions for a long-term solution have centered around the use of incineration plants, however public health experts and environmental activists have raised concerns about the use of incineration plants as a long-term solution in Lebanon, citing concerns about the lack of a waste management framework, independent monitoring, emissions, and the high cost of incineration. Meanwhile, open dumping and burning continues across the country.

Human Rights Watch conducted research in 15 municipalities for this report. While a number of these municipalities have taken steps to curb open burning of waste and invest in more advanced waste processing facilities, almost all of these projects experienced lengthy delays in implementation and were dependent on funding from foreign countries and international organizations.

Cabinet approved a draft law on integrated solid waste management and sent it to parliament in 2012. The law would create a single Solid Waste Management Board, headed by the Ministry of Environment, responsible for the national-level decision making and waste treatment, while leaving waste collection to local authorities. However, parliament has yet to pass the bill.

The open burning of waste violates Lebanon’s environmental protection laws, which prohibit the emission of pollutants into the air, including harmful or disturbing smells. The government’s lack of effective action to address widespread open burning of waste and a lack of adequate monitoring or information with regard to its health effects violate Lebanon’s obligations under international law, including the government’s duties to respect and protect the right to health.

Lebanon should enforce the ban on the open burning of waste, and the Ministry of Environment and judiciary should hold violators to account. The Ministry of Environment should monitor the environmental pollution from open dumping and burning of waste and publicize results. The Ministry of Health should monitor the health effects of open dumping and burning, publicize the results, and advise residents on how to mitigate health risks. Parliament should adopt a national law on integrated solid waste management that includes the entire country, not just Beirut and Mount Lebanon, and takes into account the associated environmental and health consequences.

Lebanon, 1 December 2017

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