Solid Waste Management in the Context of a Circular Economy in the MENA Region

Safwat Hemidat, Ouafa Achouri, Loubna El Fels, Sherien Elagroudy, Mohamed Hafidi, Benabbas Chaouki, Mostafa Ahmed, Isla Hodgkinson and Jinyang Guo
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Safwat Hemidat: Department of Waste and Resource Management, Rostock University, 18051 Rostock, Germany
Ouafa Achouri: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Process Engineering, University of Salah Boubnider Constantine 3, ‘B’ 72 Ali Mendjeli Nouvelle Ville, Constantine 25000, Algeria
Loubna El Fels: Laboratory of Microbial Biotechnologies, Agrosciences and Environment (BioMAgE) Labeled Research Unit-CNRST N°4, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
Sherien Elagroudy: Egypt Solid Waste Management Center of Excellence, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, Abbasseya, Cairo Governorate 11535, Egypt
Mohamed Hafidi: Laboratory of Microbial Biotechnologies, Agrosciences and Environment (BioMAgE) Labeled Research Unit-CNRST N°4, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh 40000, Morocco
Benabbas Chaouki: Institute of Urban Techniques Management, Constantine 3 University, ‘B’ 72 Ali Mendjeli Nouvelle Ville, Constantine 25000, Algeria
Mostafa Ahmed: Egypt Solid Waste Management Center of Excellence, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, Abbasseya, Cairo Governorate 11535, Egypt
Isla Hodgkinson: Institute of Waste Management and Circular Economy, Technical University of Dresden, 01069 Dresden, Germany
Jinyang Guo: Sustainable Resource and Waste Management, Hamburg University of Technology, Blohmstr. 15, 21079 Hamburg, Germany

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-24

Abstract: Solid waste management in most MENA countries is characterized by lack of planning, improper disposal, inadequate collection services, inappropriate technologies that suit the local conditions and technical requirements, and insufficient funding. Therefore, waste management is mainly limited to collection, transportation, and disposal. As the circular economy has recently been given high priority on the MENA region’s political agenda, all MENA member states are seeking to move away from old-fashioned waste disposal, “waste management”, towards a more intelligent waste treatment, “resource efficiency”. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of national systems for municipal solid waste (MSW) management, and material and energy recovery as an important aspect thereof, in the context of the circular economy in selected countries in the MENA region. Since policy, regulation, and treatment technologies are traditionally connected to MSW management, the focus of this article is twofold. Firstly, it aims to identify the different practices of solid waste management employed in selected MENA region countries and their approaches to embracing the circular economy and, secondly, it examines the extent to which policies and technologies applied play any role in this context. The study revealed that most waste management issues in the countries analyzed appear to be due to political factors and the decentralized nature of waste management with multi-level management and responsibilities. In fact, material and energy recovery in the context of municipal solid waste management does not differ significantly in the countries in the MENA region considered. In most cases, “waste” is still seen as “trouble” rather than a resource. Therefore, a fresh vision on how the solid waste management system can be transformed into a circular economy is required; there is a need for paradigm shift from a linear economy model to a circular-economy model.

Keywords: solid waste management (SWM); legal framework; financial framework; treatment technologies and disposal; MENA region (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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