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Through the eyes, the slaughterhouses of cattle and poultry are dispersed on the Lebanese territory. However, only a small number of them comply with environmental and health standards, especially with regard to the disposal of waste generated. In terms of numbers, only three slaughterhouses adhere to these principles, against 20% who "express the desire" to comply with them. The rest continues to "destabilize" the livelihoods of neighbors and provide rivers with solid and liquid waste.
In May, the Ministry of Environment and Industry, in an official decision no. 7060 / T (dated May 2018), gave the unlicensed slaughterhouses a "last" period of three months to regulate their environmental conditions in accordance with health and environmental systems. The relatively small licensee had one year to "take the necessary steps to correct its environmental situation". For the stated purpose, the two ministries at that time wanted to give the slaughterhouses the right "to properly maintain the continuity of their work". The imposition of slaughterhouses "respecting the foundations according to 7060 / T" achieves the most important objective, which is to "reduce the cost of environmental degradation resulting from this sector", particularly after slaughterhouses are become a source of pollution in the areas where they reside and are "pollutants". Rivers, especially the Litani River. In the last survey conducted by the Litani National Authority earlier this year, it was found that "seven large slaughterhouses located in the upper Litani basin contribute to the contamination by emptying their residues and have sometimes reached the limits of the disaster, after the streams and their tributaries were painted red. Blood sacrifices. & # 39; & # 39;
The three-month period has expired, but the situation has not changed. The result did not come as neither "the environment" nor "the industry". Of the 160 slaughterhouses on Lebanese territory (legal and illegal), only three met the conditions. The latter informed the ministry of "measures taken to treat the waste," according to the head of the department of environmental protection of the Ministry of Environment, Alfat Hamdan. The rest, which continues in riverbeds, groundwater and air pollutants, in an uncontrollable way. This occurs despite the repeated yells of slaughterhouse neighbors in more than one area where it has become difficult to coexist with it.
It is only in Choueifat, but the problem extends to all Lebanese territory. According to a recent survey of the Ministry of Agriculture, it is easy to talk about the chaos in the slaughterhouse sector and the illegality of many people. According to the survey, 60 slaughterhouses of cattle and 100 of poultry were discovered and "very few are licensed", the others exist, as well as other institutions that collapsed in the absence of censorship and law. Of course, this figure does not include "slaughterhouses" (poultry slaughterhouses) that the survey revealed to be around 2000, nor a large number of small butchers that the survey did not include. not accounted for. Sources at the Ministry of Agriculture confirm that the survey "did not cover the entire sector", which means that we are facing "incomplete" figures. However, these figures indicate the reality of the crisis and show at least the "quantity" of the enormous waste produced by these slaughterhouses and shelters, which are thrown at random. It should be noted that exports of slaughterhouse waste can be divided into two parts: solid waste (krush, intestines and animal waste, horns, leather, bones and feathers), and liquids (washing carcbades). blood and water, washing of soil and fat, etc.). According to the Ministry of the Environment, the problem is not solid waste, but 'liquid waste, we are talking here of a large amount of organic waste, which greatly hurts the environment. environment and human health ".
Resolution 7060 / C
In the details of Resolution 7060 / T, which the Ministries of the Environment and Industry have requested to comply with, Article 1 states that "Slaughterhouses shall take a sample of the effluents obtained for determine the quality and size. Beyond, in sewerage systems, in surface water or in the sea, because each of these drains or channels has its norms and its determinants ". The Ministry of Environment confirmed that three slaughterhouses had complied with this decision. "About 20% of slaughterhouses really care about meeting environmental standards," said Ali Shuhaimi, chief of the licensing department of the Ministry of Industry. Regarding the missed deadlines, he pointed out that the ministry "will not adhere to the issue of time, but that it has made every effort to grant additional time because of the economic situation, especially after we have found the seriousness of the owners of establishments, "stressing on the other hand that" the environmental commitment to meet deadlines "" It is open until 39; at the end of September, after which closing procedures will begin because the problem is no longer portable. "
Slaughterhouses belong to category II industrial enterprises, which are the most damaging to public health and the environment. The license to establish it takes two phases: construction and investment. In the first phase, details are taken into account that take into account the construction, and the institution to be created is subject to an EIA study in accordance with the decree on EIA badets of 2012. This environmental study must include the type of construction. Slaughterhouse (poultry or livestock) and its surroundings In an area clbadified as Category II). If it is in an area not clbadified in this category, it should be about 1000 meters from the houses. The study also includes information on the area of the property and its distance from the rivers. The industrial process is being described and the quality and quantity of waste produced are determined.
After meeting the conditions, a document called the Environmental Management Plan is drawn up. He then describes a project not yet established. After which, a permit is issued by the Ministry of Industry, and then an investment permit is obtained after the approval of the relevant departments. Here, the owner of the slaughterhouse should conduct periodic badyzes of the production and send periodic copies to the ministries of Industry and Environment.
This is the license mechanism on paper. On the ground, the situation is completely different, because "many institutions operate without license and others under old licenses that preceded the promulgation of these laws and mechanisms and therefore the lack of procedures to treat slaughterhouse abuses ". The big disaster is that there are "new industrial institutions obtained and get their licenses even without conducting these studies"! Hamdan however emphasizes that "established standards are difficult for small businesses" and that it is therefore preferable "to establish a central slaughterhouse in every province or district, where the amount of waste generated must be huge to be environmentally and economically feasible ". However, this requires the presence of the state, without the completion of the necessary infrastructure of sanitation networks and refineries and the creation of industrial areas "difficult to invent any solution".
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