Trash Pickup Resumes in Lebanon after 8 Months; Trash Was Pushed to Suburbs, Beirut River Banks

Sanitation workers began removing mountains of trash from the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon today (March 19, 2016) in what residents hoped would mark the end of Lebanon's eight-month garbage crisis, the Newsmax website reports.

Early today, dozens of trucks started carrying trash to the Naameh landfill just south of the capital -- one of three landfills opened as part of a temporary solution announced by the government.

As garbage began piling up in Beirut last year, protesters formed the "You Stink" movement, demanding sweeping reform in Lebanon's government. The crisis began last July when the Naameh landfill -- the only landfill in the Beirut region -- was closed due to being filled beyond its capacity.

Since the peaks of the protest in the summer, authorities managed to blunt the public anger by ensuring that the streets of Beirut were kept relatively garbage-free. However, the trash was instead pushed to the city's suburbs, where it piled up along roadsides and the banks of the Beirut River.