Lebanon’s long-festering garbage crisis hit a new low this week when a mountain of putrid trash washed ashore on the country’s once enviable coast.

A winter storm dumped tonnes of waterlogged trash on Zouq Mosbeh, just a few minutes’ drive north of the capital Beirut. The foul-smelling haul of flotsam and jetsam included plastic containers, bin liners stuffed to bursting and even a pile of cattle bones reached 30m inland.

"The sea is regurgitating our trash," said Joslin Kehdy, who heads Recycle Lebanon, an NGO that has cleaned the beach every year since 2015.

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri ordered authorities to clean the beach, but the effort may have to wait until another storm passes, and more refuse potentially washes up.

It also wasn’t clear where the beach’s rubbish could go.