There Is A Giant, Rancid River Of Uncollected Trash Flowing Through Beirut

Garbage bags amassed in the capital of Lebanon have begun to resemble a river flowing through the city.

Beirut residents have been embroiled in a garbage overflow problem for months, which you can see from these photos stretching back to July 2015. The issue stemmed from competing government factions who were unable to reach a decision on how to work around the closure of the city's primary landfill site, Naameh.

A defunct collection facility, combined with heavy rainfall in the area, caused massive amounts of uncollected trash to flow into the streets of Beirut, bringing with it a stench so unpalatable that some have called it toxic.

Demonstrations led by activist groups like You Stink ensued, and while a waste management site eventually cleared the streets of its trash last July, the problem does not appear to have been completely solved.