BEIRUT: Holcim cement company has been named by the Environment Ministry as the country’s sole disposer of pharmaceutical waste, according to a news release from the organization issued Thursday.

The ministry issued a permit to the company to burn the drugs in their cement kiln. Holcim is in the process of destroying hundreds of tons of expired drugs in the kiln at their factory in Shekka, north Lebanon.

The drugs were discovered during investigations that uncovered hundreds of tons of expired goods around the country.

Officials sought an alternative to exporting the drugs, which was the usual but expensive way of getting rid of bad pharmaceuticals. An environmental monitoring agency cleared the cement plant to dispose of the drugs after several days of testing.