BEIRUT— Prime Minister Saad Hariri on April 24 announced Warak Beirut, a recycling project that promotes source sorting of paper and cardboard at government and other public institutions in Beirut. The Beirut municipality will implement the project in cooperation with Live Lebanon, a program of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) that encourages Lebanese citizens living abroad to help fund development projects in the poorest areas of the country. About a week after the announcement, on May 1, the company contracted to sweep the city's streets and collect and transport trash began operations.
The aim of Warak Beirut is to reduce the amount of waste sent from the city to the landfills in Costa Brava, in the southern suburb of Choueifat, and Bourj Hammoud, in the Metn district of Mount Lebanon governorate. Both were opened in March 2016 by ministerial order to help deal with the garbage crisis that gripped the city for almost a year.