TIME Lebanon

See the ‘River of Trash’ That’s Taken Over Beirut’s Suburbs

Thousands of packed garbage bags in Jdeideh, a northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Feb. 23, 2016. The country has struggled to resolve its trash crisis since last summer.
Hasan Shaaban—Reuters Thousands of packed garbage bags in Jdeideh, a northern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Feb. 23, 2016. The country has struggled to resolve its trash crisis since last summer.

The city's garbage situation is in crisis

Piles of garbage bags are piling up on streets of suburban Beirut, resembling a river of trash that is not going away anytime soon.

The city’s garbage crisis has been building since July, when its main landfill was closed, CNN reports. Trash began to accumulate in a yard in Jdeideh several months ago, and has since spilled over, snaking through the streets for hundreds of meters.

A plan to export the trash to Russia recently fell through, and no concrete solution has yet been settled on for the stinky dilemma, which poses a health risk to Lebanon’s residents.

[CNN]

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