Expired chemicals meant for export to Europe were instead buried in farmland in Marj Bisri after Lebanon Electricity Company changed course and contracted local processing, officials said.
Lebanon Electricity Company shifted from its 2021 plan to export expired chemicals from the Zouk and al-Jiyeh plants to Europe for disposal. In 2024 the company contracted Tecmo to process the materials locally. The Environment Ministry approved the processing methodology for Marj Bisri but requested the Agriculture Ministry's view on using the treated material as fertilizer. Before that approval was obtained, roughly 300 drums were dissolved and distributed across Marj Bisri land. After burial, the Agriculture Ministry declared the material unsuitable for agricultural use.
Some 7.5 tonnes of other materials remain unprocessed at Zahle landfill after the municipality withdrew approval in October 2025 and demanded removal.
The property where chemicals were buried is not private farmland as presented in the file but state-owned land expropriated for the Bisri Dam project and belonging to the Energy and Water Ministry.
Lebanon Electricity Company said the old export plan failed because the Environment Ministry did not approve it, and Tecmo later obtained required permits. The Environment Ministry responded that it never received a formal file meeting Basel convention export requirements, and that the company chose local processing and submitted its methodology for assessment. The Agriculture Ministry learned of the matter only after materials were converted to fertilizer and placed in soil.
Opposition figures including Jibran Bassil of the Free Patriotic Movement blamed opponents of the Bisri Dam project for the dumping, saying they had undermined the dam and damaged the environment.
