Reported by Yassmine Alieh –businessnews.com.lb –  Cityblu, a joint venture between local Société Mouawad Edde and Bulgarian firm Soriko, has begun garbage collection and transport in the cazas of Aley and Baabda. According to its contract with the Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR), the company is also in charge of the Shouf area. Milad Mouawad, General Manager of Cityblu, said: “For now, the Shouf municipalities have not requested our help. We are responsible for the caza whenever they ask us to start operations there.” CityBlu will operate in four Aley towns only: Shoueifat, Bchamoun, Aramoun, and Deir Koubil. In the remaining towns and villages in Aley, the same conditions as Shouf will apply. The company has yet to begin road sweeping operations. Mouawad said: “We are waiting for the green light from the CDR.” According to him, the company plans to start road sweeping as a good will initiative for a limited time period until the CDR approval comes in.

The company will pick up 1,300 tons of waste per day for $26.9 per ton (excluding road sweeping activities). The company has given priority to former Sukleen employees. “We have employed 300 locals who used to work at Sukleen,” he said. It will also employ up to 350 laborers from different nationalities for road sweeping activities and other tasks. Cityblu has purchased 90 brand new trucks and pickups equipped with GPS, as well as Euro 5-certified equipment (European emission standards). The company is operating in 37 towns. Mouawad said: “We will encourage sorting at source in the future. This will be activated by launching campaigns to raise awareness among citizens on the importance of sorting.”

A week ago, the joint venture between local firm Ramco Trading and Contracting and Turkish firm Altas Temizlik, began collection and the pickup of waste in Metn and Kesrouan. It won the tender held by the CDR for $86 million over a period of seven years. The company operates in 120 towns in the two cazas and processes 1,200 tons of waste per day. The two companies took over operations from Sukleen, a company under Averda, which was in charge of road sweeping, the pickup and transport of garbage in Beirut and Mount Lebanon for the past 15 years.