Makse is located in the central region of the Beqaa Valley and is home to around 7,000 Lebanese residents and 1,500 refugees. The ongoing socio-economic crisis and the increased demand for public services has diminished municipal capacity to sustainably meet residents’ basic needs, including those related to solid waste management. This has fueled communal tensions over public health following the accumulation of waste, garbage burning, and dumping in illegal sites.

In response, USAID’s Community Support Program (CSP) provided the municipality with 54 metal bins to facilitate the effective disposal and collection of recyclable waste, enabling it to be sold to buyers for processing. CSP also provided the Makse Recyclables Collection Center (MRCC) with safety equipment, fire extinguishers, and a weighing scale to accurately record quantities of collected and sold recyclables. The municipality contributed to this intervention by implementing light rehabilitation works to the MRCC, including structural improvements, installing electricity cables, and building a workers’ rest room.

To further sustain this investment, CSP trained community members and municipal workers on designing and implementing awareness campaigns on sorting at source, safely collecting and disposing of waste, respecting hygiene requirements, and developing bookkeeping and fire evacuation plans.
Between June and September 2023, the MRCC recorded its first sales of collected recyclables at the facility: a total of one ton of carton compared to zero prior to CSP’s intervention. The facility also has 250 kgs of collected plastic for sale and is waiting until they reach one ton to sell them.

“Selling recyclable material has provided the municipality with needed income to enable us to provide the community with other essential services, especially amidst this nationwide economic crisis,” said Atef Al Mays, Mayor of Makse .