Beiruitis smash up rubbish for fun to tackle waste crisis

Описание: (20 Apr 2018) LEADIN:
Beirutis are being invited to let go of their aggression by smashing up e-waste - all in the name of recycling.
It's an innovative way to tackle Lebanon's waste crisis with no government-led solution in sight.
STORYLINE
This man is letting off steam.
What was once a computer hard drive is now nothing but broken plastic on the floor.
But far from being an example of irresponsible extravagance, this smash club is the latest method Beirutis are turning to in an effort to solve Lebanon's trash crisis.
They're attending the third 'Kasser' (meaning to break/smash in Arabic) event in the city's semi-industrial neighbourhood, Karantina.
It's one of Beirut's most polluted areas, close to the port and near to a waste disposal and treatment centre.
Ceramics, old computers, TV, plastics and glass are all being smashed beyond recognition. And then recycled.
Maria Dolores Gebrael started-up Kasser, holding their first event in December, in response to the problem of mounting e-waste and little thought about what to do with it.
Gebrael says in the weeks leading up to the event shes goes to different stores, places, anywhere she can, asking for any broken or non-repairable goods.
Only e-waste which can not be repaired is used during Kasser.
Few issues have driven a wedge between the Lebanese and their leaders like garbage - the most conspicuous of the government's failings to provide basic services to its constituents.
"Kasser means break stuff and the idea behind it is de-stressing and since we're in Lebanon, and we have a garbage crisis, we can not just leave all of this behind us," Gebrael explains.  
"So we try to mix it with recycling and everything that is smashed goes back to recycling, which is the good thing about it."
All participants have to abide by strict rules to ensure their safety.
Every person wears a boiler suit, helmet, gloves and signs a disclosure form before they're allowed into the smashing enclosures.
Gebrael explains that they "smash" and "sort the breakables" which are then picked up by recycling companies.
Beeatouna is one such initiative which recycles electronic waste.
Many green initiatives have sprung up in response to the lack of a recycling plan in the country.
These have included organised events to pick up trash on the beach, recycling collection points and melting down broken glass and reshaping the liquid into glassware and lights.
"The ceramics get smashed and used again in construction, the electronics they take away some parts and the plastic they take elsewhere where it gets recycled elsewhere and glass, we give it to glassblowers," Gebrael says.
She reckons around one hundred people will attend today's event.
Pointing to the noise of smashing behind her she adds: "It's good to hear that."
Lebanon has long been plagued by daily water and electricity outages, but it was not until the trash started going uncollected in Beirut that despair erupted into a wave of protests in 2015.
Demonstrators rallied under the banner "You Stink" - a reference not only to the stench accompanying the summer heat, but to the corruption and favouritism that has defined politics and paralysed administrative services in the country.
It's left many Lebanese people angry.
Sims Witherspoon says she felt "cathartic power" when presented with the opportunity to smash whatever she liked.
But her friend Nisrine AbouChacra says it's as much about being part of a community calling for change, than simply unleashing her frustrations.
But it wouldn't be Lebanon without a party.

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