May Afif Massoud

Inadequate waste management poses a critical environmental challenge worldwide, particularly affecting global South Countries where limited infrastructure intensifies environmental degradation. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a potential strategy that holds manufacturers accountable for their products’ end-of-life management. While EPR has proven successful across Global North countries and is gaining traction in emerging markets, Lebanon has yet to embrace this approach despite its ongoing waste crisis. This study explores EPR’s potential in Lebanon through in-depth interviews with stakeholders from the plastic and electronics industries, government bodies, and NGOs. While international companies demonstrated familiarity with EPR principles, many local electronic retailers showed limited understanding. Several obstacles hinder EPR adoption: the pervasive informal waste sector, economic instability, substantial recycling infrastructure costs, knowledge gaps, and weak governance marked by corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency. Despite these challenges, industry stakeholders express keen interest in sustainable waste practices, with some companies already launching voluntary take-back initiatives. Effective EPR implementation in Lebanon requires coordinated efforts among government agencies, manufacturers, NGOs, and communities, supported by strong legislation and enforcement. The findings highlight how EPR can be tailored to assist Lebanon and other Global South countries in overcoming common waste management challenges.

Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region face water scarcity concerns and challenges to treating wastewater and providing sustainable and equitable sanitation services to the over 500 million people living in 17 identified countries. This study evaluates trends in sanitation access, the percentage of wastewater treated versus collected, equity in service access across wealth quintiles, and the sustainability of services using per capita wastewater production data. The findings reveal that while there have been improvements in access to safely managed sanitation services from 2000 to 2022, the current rate of progress is insufficient to meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.2 by 2030 in 13 countries. Notably, although wastewater is often safely collected, less than 50% is safely treated in seven of the eleven countries with available data. The study highlights significant disparities in sanitation access, with wealthier populations having better access to basic services, while poorer communities experience higher rates of open defecation. Additionally, the projected increase in wastewater production due to population growth and the push for universal access to safely managed services will require substantial improvements in treatment capacity. These insights are crucial for policymakers, underscoring the need for resilient infrastructure to achieve SDG 6.2 by 2030 while addressing ongoing equity and sustainability challenges in the region.

The global rise in pharmaceutical production and consumption has led to an increase in pharmaceutical waste, posing significant risks to both public health and the environment. Improper disposal methods contribute to environmental degradation, including disruptions to aquatic ecosystems and the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Despite these growing concerns, a comprehensive review of pharmaceutical waste management and disposal practices is still lacking. To address this gap, a scoping review was conducted, analyzing 4269 records from three databases (Medline OVID, Web of Science, and Embase) and grey literature, with 67 studies ultimately included. The initial records were identified through a comprehensive search across the aforementioned databases using a structured strategy based on three core concepts: medication waste, disposal methods, and environmental or human health impacts. This was followed by a two-stage screening process guided by the PCC framework and predefined inclusion criteria. The review aims to assess disposal practices and their impacts, identify research gaps, and guide future research toward effective strategies for managing pharmaceutical waste while protecting ecological balance and public health. The publications timeline shows increasing interest in the topic, particularly with a surge in studies during 2022 and 2023. The findings reveal a significant regulatory gap, especially in the Global South, where limited infrastructure and public awareness lead to reliance on household waste disposal. In contrast, medication take-back programs are more common in the Global North. This disparity underscores the urgent need for policy development. Addressing pharmaceutical waste effectively requires coordinated efforts from the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare providers, regulatory bodies, and local communities. Key strategies should include regulatory action, public education, technological innovation, and addressing issues like drug misuse and overconsumption, particularly of antibiotics, which contribute to antimicrobial resistance. A holistic approach is essential to mitigate both environmental and public health risks.

Effective solid waste management is a critical environmental challenge, particularly in rapidly growing Global South countries like Nigeria. This issue is exacerbated by burgeoning populations, lax waste regulations, and the widespread practice of open dumping. The deterioration of soil quality and alteration of water quality are major consequences of open waste dumping, posing significant environmental and public health risks. This study aims to assess the environmental risk and pollution status of soil and water resources near major dumpsites in Lagos. It aims to offer insights that can inform targeted interventions and policy measures not only in Lagos but also in comparable urban settings worldwide. Results indicated that important soil parameters, including TN (11.89–13.83 mg/kg), pH (6.45–7.35), sulfate (36.71–39.49 mg/kg), phosphate (9.31–14.39 mg/kg), and electrical conductivity (342–566 µS/cm), were significantly affected by the dumpsites. Additionally, concentrations of heavy metals varied, with some exceeding permissible limits set by international standards, highlighting the environmental challenges posed by improper waste disposal in urban settings like Lagos. The analyzed parameters for water were mostly within acceptable limits, indicating a lesser impact of the waste dump on water resources. Water samples from boreholes and hand-dug wells near three dumpsites showed that pH, TDS, and heavy metal concentrations were mostly within WHO limits, with borehole water deemed safe for drinking and hand-dug wells suitable for cleaning. To alleviate the environmental impacts of open dumpsites, it is recommended to implement effective waste segregation, recycling programs, controlled landfilling, and investment in waste treatment technologies, along with regular water quality monitoring to prevent further pollution and protect public health. While these measures offer opportunities, they also face significant challenges due to financial and land constraints. Therefore, strong public awareness, infrastructure investment, and government commitment are essential, along with coordinated efforts among the government, private sector, and communities.

Disasters occur in both developed and developing countries, generating large amounts of disaster waste including construction and demolition (C&D) waste that needs to be appropriately managed. While developed countries are capable of implementing adequate disaster waste management (DWM) strategies to facilitate their recovery processes, developing countries generally struggle to find the resources and expertise needed to develop such strategies. Lebanon is a developing country vexed by several systemic challenges that hindered its abilities to manage disaster waste. In this paper, we focus on the Beirut Port explosion (4 August 2020), which generated more than 800,000 tonnes of disaster wastes. This study first assesses the executed strategies and identifies their enabling factors and implementation challenges. It then proposes a framework for the proper management of disaster waste, which was validated through 18 in-depth interviews with experts and stakeholders involved in disaster management. Interview notes and transcripts were analyzed using an inductive-deductive process that allowed to identify themes using the constant comparative method. The data revealed that the main barriers toward implementing a successful DWM strategy were the absence of appropriate technologies, infrastructure, expertise, legislative framework and financial resources. The study concludes by proposing a DWM roadmap that includes contingency, risk reduction and implementation plans (IPs) that can enhance decision-making and ease the recovery process.

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as Lebanon have limited technical, economic, and social infrastructures to manage municipal solid waste properly. Understanding what motivates citizens to sort waste at home is paramount to designing effective, efficient, and equitable waste management interventions. Within the solid waste management project “RES-Q” in Southern Lebanon, we investigated the socio-cognitive predictors of waste sorting in a sample of 767 households from the targeted area using the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). Perceived behavioural control (β = 0.96, p < 0.001), perceived norms (β = −0.30, p < 0.001), and current behaviour (β = 0.06, p < 0.001) were the strongest predictors of intention; attitude toward separating waste was not a significant predictor (β = 0.04, p = 0.3881). Consequently, future behavioural interventions should build capability and opportunity to perform the behaviour before normalising it. For example, citizens should receive bins and bags to separate waste and be shown how to perform the behaviour and how easy and convenient it is to increase their behavioural control. In parallel, waste collection and treatment infrastructures must be in place so that citizens can see that sorting waste is a social norm. These actions will ensure the success of future behavioural interventions within the RES-Q project and beyond.