"Saida’s Waste Mountain"
Legal and environmental violations shut down Lebanese waste sorting plant.
This report reveals legal and environmental violations at a sorting plant in Saida, southern Lebanon, which have exacerbated the city's waste crisis. The report also documents the plant operator's failure to respond to numerous “official” requests to regulate and improve its operations in accordance with environmental and legal standards.
The scene of Saida “drowning” in waste has been ongoing for two
years. Containers overflow with garbage on the streets. Foul odors
spread throughout the city, negatively affecting the health of
Saida’s residents and those in neighboring areas.
The company IBC SAL has been operating a waste treatment plant in
Saida for approximately 13 years, during which the environmental
conditions in the city have deteriorated and garbage has become a
constant in people's lives. This situation could only have come
about through legal violations and negligence, leading to an
appalling reality.
The plant does not have an operating license from the Ministry of
Industry to this day! Its construction license (which has expired)
was issued on December 17, 2013, under Decision No. 4147. The
company was officially registered in Lebanese state records on
January 28, 2016, under number 5006413, even though it was
“officially approved” by the Council of Ministers in 2012, which
means that it was built illegally.
Foreigners account for approximately 86 percent of the company's
shareholders, most of whom are Saudi. This is in violation of
Lebanese trade law, which stipulates that no less than one-third of
the board of directors must be Lebanese.
The plant was built on the coast south of the city of Saida, near a
river and groundwater wells. The disclosures obtained by ARIJ
repeatedly mention requests by the Lebanese Ministries of
Environment and Industry to conduct environmental impact tests on
groundwater and on materials inside the plant. These requests show
that the plant did not conduct an environmental impact study before
the project was established, nor did it issue any periodic reports
throughout its operation. The two ministries also requested data
explaining the Saida plant’s operating mechanism and the nature of
the materials produced and sold.
According to minutes of a meeting attended by a representative of
the Ministry of Environment, activists, and observers of this case,
and issued by the Ministry of Environment in 2019, the factory “only
responds in writing on some matters; it violated the recommendation
of the ministry's engineer by temporarily burying waste and
transferring it to a landfill.” The minutes also pointed to
“suspected collusion” with the municipal authorities, as the
municipality granted ownership of the land on which the factory was
built to the factory itself, even though it was public property, and
awarded it a contract despite its “illegality.” We have not received
any response from the Saida municipality regarding these
“allegations,” despite attempts to contact them by phone, fax, and
email.
According to field visits documented in several reports, the factory
contains equipment, machinery, generators, treatment plants, an
anaerobic digester, belts, and taps. All of these devices are either
broken, malfunctioning, or not working properly. The corridors
inside the plant are dirty with leaking liquids; waste is scattered
everywhere, and some sections are closed off.
All of these facts raise an urgent question: Could IBC SAL have been
able to continue to exclusively operate the plant for all these
years without being held accountable, if it weren’t for political
cover and, therefore, material benefits for those concerned?
Despite all this information, which proves legal violations and
environmental violations, statements have been made by some
ministers, MPs, and Saida municipal officials stating that they are
“not sure of any pollution caused by the plant.” Other causes of
pollution are often cited, far removed from the Saida plant, such as
the breakdown of the sewage treatment plant, inaccurate studies, and
other reasons.
To document the Saida plant's violations and the resulting ongoing
environmental pollution, we have supported this report with numerous
documents accompanied by field reports from representatives of the
Ministries of Environment and Industry, gathered over several years
and at different times of the year.
While working on this report, we contacted the then Minister of
Environment, Nasser Yassin, several times by phone and email, but he
did not respond to questions, accusations, or violations related to
the plant. He merely stated that he had “forwarded the file to the
relevant department because he did not know the details.”
A collection of documents issued between 2021 and 2024 show the
accumulation of waste around and inside the plant, frequent fires,
and several attempts to restart the plant. Older documents from 2016
to 2019 show a decline in the plant’s capacity to operate and its
failure to comply with its original plans, as well as the beginning
of waste accumulation.
Although in 2019 there were serious attempts to solve the plant's
problems and carry out studies and inspections, as shown in some
reports from 2018 and 2019, these were contradicted by other
reports, accompanied by figures and evidence incriminating the
plant's management.
All of this information points to the “supporting party” behind this
plant. For the people of Saida, there is only one party that could
convince the Saudis to invest in this project: the city's
representatives in parliament, Bahia Hariri and Fouad Siniora. In
addition, there is Mohammed al-Saudi, mayor from 2010 to 2023⸺a
period that saw legal and environmental violations at the plant.
This coincided with attempts to silence environmental activists and
a media blackout on environmental and legal issues related to the
Saida plant.
We did not find any “serious” government studies assessing the
environmental impact of this plant. Therefore, we relied on official
documents and records, as well as the opinions of some environmental
and health experts, to document the environmental impact of the
Saida plant. It appears that the plant does not produce any
high-quality outputs or materials from the treated waste that can be
reused. In addition, there is a mountain of waste that, just by
passing by, causes nausea and suffocation.
The plant is located at the beach, south of the city of Saida. It
pollutes four water sources: the sea, the Sinik River, groundwater
wells, and the lake inside the plant. During diving expeditions
carried out by the “Anadi Act” association in 2014 and the “La
Fasad” (No Corruption) association in 2017, hundreds of tons of
garbage were found, including clothes racks, car tires, electronic
waste, household and medical waste, and other material that is
difficult to decompose, such as iron, glass, wood, fabric, and
plastic. These were swept northward by sea currents and scattered
across the sea basin. Some were washed back to other parts of the
shore, while others were wedged inrocks and turned into
“frightening” piles of waste.
All of this has made the coastal towns north of Saida vulnerable to water and beach pollution, according to Dr. Joanna Dammar, Head of the Earth Sciences Department at the American University of Beirut.
Some documents obtained by ARIJ focused on the danger posed by the
lake (basin) inside the plant, confirming that it is “the most
polluted place in Lebanon.” According to Mohammed al-Majzoub, an
engineer and environmental activist in Saida, the lake was formed
when the sea was filled in to bury the old “garbage mountain” on an
area of about 50,000 square meters.
According to the documents, toxic chemicals are dumped into the
lake, along with tannery waste and sewage. NTCC, the company
responsible for collecting garbage from containers in Saida and
transporting it to the plant, also dumped waste there daily.
According to documents dating back to 2016, and experts and
specialists we interviewed while working on the report, the plant
uses the lake “to dispose of everything, including medical waste and
exhaust fumes, which cause foul odors.”.
In minutes of a 2019 meeting, the Lebanese Ministry of Environment
demanded that the lake water be tested to determine its
environmental impact on groundwater wells, emphasizing that the
bottom of the lake be tested. However, we found no documented
results for this request. Al-Majzoub,confirmed that "There was a
serious decision to get rid of the lake that year by filling it in,
i.e. closing it, without considering the fate of the polluted water.
The project, cost nine billion Lebanese pounds (equivalent to six
million US dollars at the time). For reasons unclear to us, the
tender file was entrusted to the Higher Relief Commission , and the
project was not implemented for political, economic, and security
reasons in 2019."
Al-Majzoub added that “Funding for the project was halted at that
time, and the contractor filled in part of the lake with whatever
money he could muster... The project to fill in the lake remains on
the municipality's agenda to this day, with the aim of dumping the
waste currently accumulated in Saida. Thanks to our efforts and
support from the Ministry of Environment, this decision has been
halted.”
With regard to the Sinik River, located south of the plant, it
originates in villages east of the city of Saida and flows into its
south. ARIJ obtained a video posted by one of the city's activists
showing the plant disposing of toxic chemical sediments into the
river, which in turn flows into the sea.
Dr. Joanna Dammar reported “a change in the color of the river
water.” She added, “Scientifically, the water moves northward, but
because of the direct discharge of waste into the river, this
approach may have contributed to the pollution.” She also pointed to
the need to test the river water to confirm the concentration of
harmful substances.
In 2019, a document confirmed an increase in river pollution, and
Mohammed Al-Saudi, the mayor at the time, attributed the cause to a
malfunction in the sewage system that leaked into the river.
According to Dr. Dammar, head of the Earth Sciences Department at
the American University of Beirut, maps show that marine fill has
narrowed the northern river mouth, leading to higher floodwaters
along its banks, contributing to its reshaping and coastal erosion.
She also warned of the impact this would have on “the fish stocks
and biodiversity of Saida and the cities to the north.”
Two reports obtained by ARIJ pointed to frequent fires at the
landfill. One of the reports confirmed that waste was being burned
on land adjacent to the Saida factory. Other documents mentioned the
danger of waste being left in open air, due to the toxic emissions
it produces, such as methane, hydrogen sulfide, and carbon dioxide,
as these gases adversely affect the nervous and respiratory systems.
Some documents mentioned that foul odors have accompanied the plant
since its establishment, but have increased year after year, and
point to the malfunctioning of protective filters inside the plant.
According to some reports, inhalation of these gases leads to
symptoms such as shortness of breath, allergies, coughing,
dizziness, headaches, and nausea. Dr. Salah Zainuddin, director of
the American University of Beirut Medical Center and a respiratory
specialist, confirmed that these emissions exacerbate conditions
such as asthma, fibrosis, and allergies, and accelerate the onset of
respiratory diseases in people with genetic predispositions or
cancers.
Some documents and scientific reports obtained by ARIJ showed that
the waste located near the plant produces a liquid during
decomposition, which can form pools that may contain elements such
as mercury, lead, acidic water, microplastics, and other pollutants,
with the possibility of these substances interacting with each
other, which could produce new toxic compounds.
Documents show several environmental violations at the Saida
factory.
The reports also mention the presence of rodents, bacteria, and
poisonous insects, in addition to dust and ash from crushers and
other machinery inside the plant.
Waste sorting in the plant produces organic materials used in
anaerobic digestion, or fermentation, which is the conversion of
organic waste into fertilizer for agriculture. The sorting process
also produces methane gas, which is used to generate electricity
through special generators, in addition to plastic, which is
recycled before being sold. This process also produces wood, paper,
and fabrics that can be burned and converted into alternative fuel
for energy production, called “RDF.” Most importantly, according to
the plans, there will be no waste, i.e., untreated or unusable
waste, which is usually referred to as landfill.
According to the documents, the compost production process was not
successful, so the compost was disposed of. Dr. Dammar attributes
this to “the presence of oxygen and the presence of organic waste in
the compost due to poor sorting, such as fabrics.”
As for plastic, the recycling plant has been shut down, and most
plastic waste no longer reaches the center. We observed cars driving
around the dumps on the roads and collecting waste, but we were
unable to determine its source.
Given all these factors, the plant's current output is nothing more
than “piling up waste” in the open air, polluting the environment,
and spoiling the general appearance.
Engineer Mohammad Dandashli, head of the administrative board of the
“Raise Your Voice” association (which deals with public affairs in
the city of Saida), said that everyone was in favor of and
supportive of the Saida plant project because of the great suffering
caused by the “old garbage mountain.” However, after reviewing the
plant's plans and work contracts, illegal aspects of the project
came to light, according to Dandashli.
He added, “First, we discovered that the land on which the center
was built was owned by the municipality, which is against the law,
as the property is reclaimed land, meaning it is public property.”
Dandashli pointed out that the municipality justified the transfer
of ownership of the land based on an agreement that the plant would
not charge a “fee” for treating around 200 tons of Sidon's waste per
day. However, surprisingly, a decree issued by the Council of
Ministers revealed that the plant was charging fees for treating
Sidon's waste, amounting to around US$95 per ton, which contradicts
the main plan, which stipulates free treatment, according to
Dandashli.
Engineer Muhammad Dandashli, head of the administrative board of the
“Raise Your Voice” association, added that, "The plant did not
comply with the terms of its construction license, which stipulates
that it will not burn or bury waste. We were surprised when the
municipality asked the Ministry of Public Works for permission to
use the land adjacent to the plant to dump waste to turn it into a
landfill, but it turned into an unsanitary dump, so we started to
take action on the ground. In 2015 and 2016, citizens took to the
streets to demonstrate peacefully against this situation."
In turn, the “Raise Your Voice” association filed a lawsuit with the
State Shura Council against the municipality of Saida and the
Lebanese State on November 20, 2017, due to legal and environmental
violations by the Saida factory.
However, the council dismissed the case five years later, arguing
that the activists who filed it did not live within a kilometer of
the plant. It should be noted that the lawsuit concerns public
maritime property that is gradually being eroded and is closely
linked to the principle of environmental protection enshrined in Law
444 of 2002, according to Dandashli.
According to the documents, the plant ceased operations with the
change of management in 2021, when the general manager, Nabil
Zantout, was dismissed in June and Ahmed al-Sayed was appointed in
August of the same year.
The plant did not operate during that period, leading to the
accumulation of 40,000 tons of waste. Technical inspections then
revealed that many of the mechanisms and devices were broken, and
the amount of waste accumulated on the ground adjacent to the plant
increased.
As for repairs and the purchase of supplies to restart the plant, a
technical study conducted by the Ministry of Environment through a
World Bank expert in 2022 estimated the approximate amount to be
$863,000.
However, instead of implementing the recommendations, the plant was
completely shut down in January 2023, and NTCC stopped collecting
waste due to the expiration of its contract. Saida was flooded with
garbage for months, until a decision was made to re-contract NTCC
through a tender in mid-2024.
Hamza al-Maghribi, a shareholder and founder of IBC SAL, said that
the plant's deterioration is due to its failure to adhere to the
original plans, which were based on scientific principles, in order
to achieve real waste treatment. He added, “We agreed with the
municipality from the outset that waste would be collected within
four hours, because organic materials left in the open air will
decompose, which in turn affects the quality of production.”
Instead of collecting waste directly from the source, containers are
placed on public roads containing different types of waste, which
then decompose, emitting foul odors that attract insects and cats,
in violation of the minimum environmental safety requirements,
according to Al-Maghribi.
The operating company's failure to apply technical and environmental
standards makes it liable to compensate those affected, specifically
those living in close proximity to the plant, in addition to bearing
responsibility for resolving the crisis that has brought back the
“mountain of waste.”
In early 2024, Dr. Hazem Badi, mayor of Saida, issued a decree
demanding that the plant take serious measures to resolve the waste
crisis in the city. Six months later, he issued another statement
praising the improvements made by the plant's management, while
thanking the committee and the management for their joint efforts
and confirming that the plant was “on the right track.”
In February 2025, the municipality of Saida issued a memo stating
that it had conducted dozens of field visits to the Saida plant and
had come up with several recommendations to improve the plant's
operations. It confirmed in its statement that the plant's
management had not adhered to the planned schedule for implementing
the treatment and improvement plan, which exacerbated the waste
crisis in the city.
However, Wafic al-Hawari, a journalist and community activist in
Saida, said that the plant will not be able to implement the “reform
plan” for several reasons: “It is not registered with the Chamber of
Commerce and Industry; therefore, it cannot purchase any equipment.
Secondly, it does not have enough workers. Its workforce dropped
from450 employees to about 60.”
He added that “The plans do not mention the waste accumulated inside
and around the plant, or how it will be removed.”
On the other hand, based on the study submitted by the Ministry of
Environment and the French company (technical assessment studies
only), the factory needs to be completely rebuilt, which will take a
year to complete at a cost of around $9 million, according to
Hawari.
This report was produced with the support of ARIJ.