The pioneer experience of Arab Saleem women in sorting, recycling and marketing solid waste

As Safir newspaper published a report about the experience of women in Arab Saleem in sorting and recycling solid waste and selling these to several factories in Lebanon via the Earth Call association which was created by the women in 1998 and which is involved in various other environmental initiatives.
The President of the association, Zaynab Mkalled, notes that the project started with sorting solid wastes and separating plastics, metals and glass.  The activity involved children who were given a symbolic stipend for their work in addition to the women of Arab Saleem who were sorting their wastes as part of their housework.  Mkalled notes that the project then developed and the organization acquired premises and six warehouses to store sorted waste with the support of the Italian government which also helped the, acquire a large electrical generator which is sufficient to operate the large equipment they also bought and go through a number of training workshop on packaging recycle waste.  The group acquired another generator to operate a machine to process plastic material via the German embassy.  The Municipality of Arab Saleem also provided assistance to the group thus underlying the importance of collaborating and coordinating with the state and with the Ministry of Environment as experience shows that the problem of waste cannot be solved unless in collaboration with civil society and with relevant Ministries.
Hamda Haydar, an activist in the organization notes that their aspiration is to implement a project to treat organic waste.  She added that the success of their project is a reflection of the success of their organization which mobilized the community around the importance of the environment and the fact that the problem of waste can only be resolved through on-site sorting.
Source: Al-Safir 10 June 2014