National Solid Waste Environmental Management Programme

The Solid Waste Environmental Management Project was Lebanon's first large-scale national investment in engineered municipal waste infrastructure after the civil war. Across Regions 1A (Zahle, Baalbeck, Hermel, Amioun) and 1B (Tripoli, Jbeil, Qobayat), it introduced sanitary landfilling, transfer stations, modern collection and street sweeping, and closure of legacy open dumps across northern Lebanon and the Bekaa.

Libanconsult delivered the full sequence of SWEMP services to the Council for Development and Reconstruction between 1996 and 2003: the Tripoli dump rehabilitation and operation assignment (1996-2002), the detailed design of Regions 1A and 1B (1998-2002), supervision of construction and supply works (1998-2002), and operation services across landfills, transfer stations, collection and street sweeping (1998-2003).

Scope covered construction of sanitary landfills at Zahle (50,000 T/year), Taybeh in Caza Baalbeck, Amioun, Tripoli, Jbeil and Qobayat; two transfer stations in the Caza of Hermel; supply of mobile equipment for collection, transfer, street sweeping and landfill operation; operation of collection, street sweeping and landfill services across the major northern and Bekaa cities, handling approximately 350,000 T a year; and closure and rehabilitation of existing dumps at Jbeil, Tripoli, Amioun and in each caza city.

SWEMP set the institutional, operational and technical baseline for solid waste management in North Lebanon and the Bekaa - 350,000 tonnes a year moved from open dumping into engineered handling.