NGO Recycle Lebanon was born out of a response to the numbing despair and stiloed access to alternatives compacting the garbage crisis. The name is a pun, to re[psy]cle the system from mindsets to actions as the waste crisis was the last [plastic] straw in a crippling state where water, electricity, air quality and basic rights dance in complacent corruption.

Launched in November 2015 and registered in April of 2017, Recycle Lebanon is a social change and circular economy hub with a holistic 4 programme approach focusing on data visualisation [Regenerate Lebanon], access to circular living and baladi alternatives [EcoSouk], education [Roots Academia], prevention and legislation [Dive Into Action] to raise national awareness, connect and empower individuals to drive collective action towards regenerative development in Lebanon.

“The organisation founded during Lebanon’s waste crisis presented a beacon of hope for the region with innovative solutions and a strong social base for their work.” Break Free From Plastic Movement

Joslin Kehdy is founder of NGO Recycle Lebanon and the BalaPlastic Movement.

Headstrong to collectively, dynamically and holistically shift the story of our throw away society, the NGO sheds light on Lebanon’s regional inherent circular living culture and its role internationally as a playing field to the broken system; from oil extraction to climate and war refugees at the interconnection of plastic and what it represents across the value chain.

Recycle Lebanon came out of a basic need. How can I make Lebanon better? What can I do? Who’s already doing what, where and how to visualise it for collective action? Refusing a lack of access to facilitate collaboration and on ground actions by community she set out to inform and expose existing solutions through a centralised and interactive platform to support and implement change, providing a platform with tools and information mapping sustainable and circular development.

Lebanon has solutions and there is an abundance of initiatives working towards the Sustainable Development of Lebanon and this needs to be accessible to people; this is the area that needs to be pushed to further drive in the solutions for innovation.

With the launch of Recycle Lebanon’s hub/platform it will soon be easier to understand all activities and initiatives to get involved in on an individual level.

We need to first understand what is being done and how others can contribute and innovate from the foundation of sustainable actions already in place. It was very clear that a roadmap uniting all people working towards the common good of Lebanon needed to be established so that anyone who wants to do something better for Lebanon atleast knows what’s been started and how to connect and grow the country, regeneratively.

This initiative has no desire of showing the problems to a society already aware of them but aims rather at engaging, giving hope, solutions and empowering people to take actions because everyone is concerned and the solutions are in the hands of every single one of us. Kehdy also hopes through this wonderful initiative to enlighten corporations to take personal responsibility and action towards the ongoing environmental crisis.