BEIRUT: The Cabinet Thursday failed to find a solution to the trash crisis which has left Beirut and Mount Lebanon buried under garbage this week, with Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk vowing to locate new dump sites.

“I will seek to locate landfills in every region and every district of Lebanon and this will be our solution,” Machnouk told reporters following a four-hour Cabinet meeting.

Information Minister Ramzi Joreige said after the session at the Grand Serail in Downtown Beirut that Prime Minister Tammam Salam has postponed discussions on the decision-making system to Tuesday.

Joreige said the meeting began with Salam insisting on the need to elect a new head of state as soon as possible “so that the power pyramid would be complete.”

The garbage crisis was only addressed at the end of the session after ministers discussed the decision-making process.

“Afterwards, we tackled the issue of solid waste and financial dues and there was an extensive discussion regarding these two issues,” Joreige said, reading from a statement.

“Then [the Cabinet] decided to postpone discussions on the decision-making mechanism to Tuesday,” Joreige added.

When Machnouk was asked why a solution to the country’s waste management crisis was left till the last minute, he said: “the political situation had complicated the issue.”

He added that the ministry has identified all districts that could assist in transporting and burying waste.

“We are attempting to prevent waste from being thrown in random landfills,” he said. “There are several volunteers who are providing small landfills and are contributing to efforts to decrease the amount of waste.”

“We thank them and assert that the case is moving toward a solution,” he added.

Cabinet did not issue any new decision regarding the waste management case, Foreign Minsiter Gebran Bassil said in a news conference after the session. He said that Cabinet had previously passed decisions on the matter, asserting that it was the responsibility of the environment minister to commence with implementation.

Garbage has been left uncollected in Beirut and Mount Lebanon since Sunday, two days after the closure of the Naameh landfill.

Angry residents were seen Wednesday evening setting fire to piles of garbage on a street not far from where Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri lives in Beirut's Ain al-Tineh neighborhood. Smoke still billowing from the burning garbage heap clouded the residential area early Thursday.

The Beirut Fire Department Thursday said it had put out more than 140 fires set on dumpsters and piles of uncollected garbage across Beirut since Monday.

Municipalities appeared helpless as piles of waste continued to grow on the streets.

Later Thursday, the municipality of Choueifat announced that it would begin collecting trash from the streets starting Friday, "until the Cabinet reaches a comprehensive solution.” The statement did not say where municipal workers would transport the garbage.

Machnouk had earlier promised a solution to the crisis would be found at Thursday’s Cabinet session.

There had been fears that the government may not act on the crisis since it is currently locked up in a dispute with the Free Patriotic Movement over security appointments. The FPM has insisted on prioritizing the issue of key security and military appointments as well as the government’s decision-making process.

The often-dramatic Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi hinted that Salam might resign if the Cabinet fails to agree on a decision-making system next week.

“Salam might be heading toward resignation if consensus is not reached during the next session,” Rifi told reporters after the meeting.