SAVE SUMMER Nahr el Kalb Beach Rescue

We are calling on all the people to join us to make a stance this Saturday to prove that we can come together in the biggest clean up and recycle party yet and finish this once and for all so Sukleen does not take the garbage and throw it back to us.

Come One, Come All! Clean Up Together to Recycle Lebanon
As many of you may know by now – we have been cleaning up the Nahr el Kalb shoreline since January and recycling the collected waste, sharing the solutions and raising awareness to the human and marine life risks.

After nearly cleaning the entire beach, a second wave of waste has been brought back to our shorelines by the sea currents, (many advising us that the waste has come from Bourj Hammoud landfill) rendering the cleaned up beach obscenely polluted again.

We continued our clean up efforts with great memento only to learn we must stop because Sukleen will come and take it all away. Away… not sorted and recycled!

Of course, with the swimsuit season on the rise, the beach resorts need to open ASAP and have hired Sukleen to remove the waste April 13-14 by bagging it all together and dumping it back into a landfill, sea or even our plates – as we all understand by now that we are ingesting and breathing in the results of the mismanaged waste crisis.

It baffles us that they are allowed to open more landfills, legally pick up the waste and still continue to show false efforts in actually recycling it. If we do not pick up this waste and transfer it to the recyclers, it will keep coming back to us. This crisis is a wake up call to sort and recycle. As new coastline landfills (legal and illegal) are being opened, this phenomenon is going to keep on happening unless the roots of the problem are properly addressed. We refuse to be blind and understand that when you throw something away in a landfill, into the sea, onto the streeets without sorting and recycling… it comes back to us as it continues to infest our health and nature! We have lived the crisis and will not be reactionary to accept Sukleen taking the waste off the beach just so it can be thrown back into the sea and back to us.

What Have We Done So Far?
Over 150 people have come together in January, February and March in a beautiful spirit of hope to clean up Lebanon and make a change, no matter how small or how big. 

With over 1500 bags collected for recycling, together we have removed the waste off the shorelines, out of the sea, off the streets and our plates! This crisis is affecting all of Lebanon and we're here to collectively learn about sorting and recycling solutions while cleaning up the beach! 

Waste [including all generated trash from the gathering] will be picked up, sorted and bagged by everyone at the beach. 

The waste on the shoreline has come from what was thrown from the valleys into Nahr el Kalb and from the sea currents from South to North of Lebanon…from the sea and back onto the shorelines, killing the sea life and polluting the beach. All the microplastics are being blown into neighborhoods and onwards from the shore contaminating health and nature even more.

What Happens To The Waste? 
Ziad Abi Chaker, Recycle Beirut and arcenciel.aec collect the bags and recycle it.

Tires are in storage to be upcycled by CatalyticAction to be used to build a playground for Syrian refugee children while remaining tires are availabble for anyone who wants and the rest have been recycled in the South of Lebanon.

Recycle Lebanon collaborates with the collection and drop off recycling centers to bring awareness to solutions for all Lebanese to at least sort and drop off instead of letting their waste reach the street and eventually the sea and their plates. Take responsibility for our consumption and waste management... it starts with you Refuse - Reduce - Reuse - Recycle - Rot. Say no to plastics, use re-usable bags, consume less single use plastics, start at least with refusing straws. 

How Much Waste Has Been Saved From The Sea? 
Collectively we have sorted 300m of wasted shoreline and removed and bagged 1,500 (60 liter) bags picked up for recycling! Thanks to all volunteers and initiatives we have come together and removed the waste off the shorelines, out of the sea, off the streets and out of our plates and blood stream!

Does It Help? 
YES! These concrete small-scale initiatives have proved to be effective in different aspects:

- First, by the quantity of waste that has been removed from harming marine life, picked up and recycled - hence, sustainably dealt with in Lebanon with local initiatives. We are here to show that there is no excuse not to sort and recycle.

-Second, by the number of people who have repeatedly joined efforts and the quality of the awareness that is being raised alongside the empowerment stemming from being part of a community of volunteers that are actually making a change around them.

Build up the Zbeleh bala 7oudoud tower with Operation Big Blue Association-OBBA, Women uprising, Yalla Lets Recycle يلا تعو نفرز, Ana Ma Bkebb-أنا ما بكب and ecowarrior volunteers and scouts!