The current trash crisis doesn’t bode well for the government’s ability to deal with Lebanon’s other problems.
BEIRUT — On a normal weekend night, the revelers at Floyd the Dog, a bar in one of this city’s rowdiest party neighborhoods, spill onto the sidewalk, drinks in hand, to smoke cigarettes in the warm Mediterranean air.
But Saturday night, the few patrons at the bar remained inside with the windows shut; a newly installed fan near the door whirred, trying to keep the stinky air outside from flowing in.
Across the street a gargantuan pile of trash overwhelmed three dumpsters, and, after a week of baking in the sun, its fumes had drastically reversed the bar’s fortunes.