On November 2, 2021, the USAID Lebanon Diverting Waste by Encouraging Reuse and Recycling (DAWERR) Activity hosted a delegation from USAID/Lebanon for a site visit. The delegation included USAID Regional Contracts and Agreement Officer Amy Mc Quade, USAID/Lebanon Local Development Office Director Claude Zullo, and USAID/Lebanon Program Development Specialist Sana Saliba. During the visit, the delegation met the DAWERR team, learned more about the project, toured a solid waste processing facility, and connected with DAWERR beneficiaries.

For the first part of the visit, the USAID/Lebanon delegation met with the three winners of the recent DAWERR Ideathon competition, entrepreneurs and startups that are now being supported to develop innovative solid waste management solutions across Lebanon. These entities are (1) LU Environment, which is making biochar from organic waste by pyrolysis, which will be used as fertilizer to reduce the production costs for agriculture; (2) Eco-Friendly Concrete, a startup focused on partial replacement of concrete constituents with recycled materials; and (3) Eco Match, which is developing a platform for materials to promote a circular economy by turning the waste of some into resources for others. These winning groups  will each receive an in-kind grant of up to $6,500 , as well as technical support through a two-month incubation phase at Berytech, a core member of the DAWERR team. 

In the second part of the visit, the delegation traveled to Batloun, a village in Mount Lebanon, where they toured the Batloun Material Recovery Facility and met with the mayor of Batloun and representatives of the Batloun Municipal Solid Waste Management Committee. DAWERR supported the establishment of this Committee and is collaborating with them, the Municipal Council of Batloun, and other stakeholders to implement a sustainable solid waste management pilot. 

“Batloun has a vision for improving its waste management, and the town has already launched initiatives for sorting at the source,” said Batloun Mayor Marwan Kays at the meeting. “With the help of the USAID DAWERR Activity, the municipality has developed an action plan for improving solid waste management. Our aim is to become a zero-waste town,” he added.

The USAID delegation valued the interactions with DAWERR beneficiaries and thanked the team for a well-organized visit. “USAID is a key partner in the pursuit of innovative and sustainable solutions for solid waste management in Lebanon, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to showcase the impact that USAID’s investments are already having in this sector,” said DAWERR Chief of Party Jad Sakr. 

USAID DAWERR is a five-year activity designed to improve the social, environmental, and economic well-being of Lebanese citizens through sustainable solid waste recovery and diversion programs. To learn more about DAWERR, view its page on the ECODIT website and follow it on Facebook and Instagram.