Ziad Abichaker loves Lebanon dearly, right down to its trash — in fact, he has said that he has “a love affair” with garbage.

As a structural and environmental engineer, Abichaker sees only raw materials, and in a country with a stinking, unresolved garbage crisis, his time has come. He has quietly opened 12 waste management plants in Lebanon over the past 10 years, but his latest plant is even more ambitious: a zero-waste facility. Every kind of household trash can come in, and only useful products go out. This technology combined with the public’s exasperation with traditional waste management in Lebanon means Abichaker’s recycling dreams may finally be realized.

Additional video and editing by Elie Khadra.