By Eng. Rehan Ahmed

Waste Management is currently the most challenging task faced by all Middle East (ME) countries which are generating municipal, industrial and healthcare waste. This is due to the fast population growth, urbanisation, influx of foreign work force, industrial growth and economic expansion due to which there is tremendous increase in solid waste quantities in the region. Waste that is generated is required to be stored, separated, transported, treated and disposed, all of which create economic, social and environmental burdens to be taken on by the respective municipalities and government organisations.

The per capita solid waste generation in the ME region is one of the highest worldwide. The gross urban waste generation from Middle Eastern countries has risen to more than 150 million tons per annum which is a serious threat to environmental resources and is causing many allied health hazards. The challenge being faced by the ME countries include high waste generation rate, inefficient final disposal, lack of waste segregation, mixing of different types of waste, limited recycling facilities, organic waste utilisation, involvement of stakeholders and lack of public awareness. The municipalities and governments are striving to solve this immediate environmental problem, but in spite of spending huge sums can barely provide satisfactory waste collection and disposal services. Communal bins are provided for waste storage and waste is collected by compactors and dump trucks which ultimately end up in quarries and remote areas in unlined dumping sites. The environmental impacts include pollution, affecting soil, air and water, odors, nuisance, traffic generation and congestion, dust generation, vermin, insects and rodents, bird hazard, noise and impact on occupational and public health. One major source of GHGs is landfills, which account for 3.4–3.9% of total annual GHG emissions worldwide. Carbon dioxide and methane are produced by decomposition of the organic fraction of solid wastes in landfills. Methane is particularly problematic, because it has 21 times the global warming potential than carbon dioxide. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), methane emissions from landfills account for 18% of all methane added to the atmosphere each year, ranging from 9 to 70 megatons annually. Zero waste is now a new direction in the ME, where authorities are saying ‘no’ to incinerators, landfills and a throwaway society. The concerned authorities have now understood that the solution lies not only in collecting, transporting and disposing waste but in adopting and promoting the 3-R approach of “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” as the waste hierarchy and moving towards the principle of ‘Zero Waste’. Zero waste is a relatively recent concept that has the key to our waste crises, closing the loop of material flow and enabling us to reach sustainable societies. Zero waste manages the sources of waste rather than managing the waste. Thus, treating the disease rather than symptoms and changing our approach to resources and production. Zero waste is not about 100% recycling and diversion from landfills, but about restructuring production and distribution systems to prevent waste from being generated in the first place. The idea is to encourage the redesign of the resource lifecycle so that all products are reused. Zero waste is undoubtedly a win-win situation for all parties and is now a popular concept in the region due to rising quantities of waste. Zero waste calls for redesign of all the industrial products, so that discard never takes place and waste generation is avoided. Consequently, many producers are responsible for their products even after the product life comes to an end. With zero waste concept, the consumer has to return the product to the producer again for reuse, repair or recycling back into nature or the marketplace. Since the past decade, the zero waste movement has gained popularity and has been moving from “theory into action” in ME by focusing on how a “zero waste community” is structured and behaves. In simple words, “If a product can’t be reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned, or removed from production.” The first priority is to avoid and prevent waste, reduce consumption of goods and choose products with minimum packaging. The second priority is reusing items. Many items can be used again (e.g., glass jars, bottles & plastic bags). Reuse causes reduction in waste and better conservation of resources. The third priority is recycling and turning materials that would otherwise become ‘waste’ into ‘valuable resources’. All stakeholders are to be consulted and involved with emphasis on enhancing community awareness and addressing all cross-sections of population. Recycling is still very nominal in the ME countries limited to paper, cartons, metals and cans recycling. Although some countries have placed recycling at the top of their waste management priorities, the low cost of landfill and the availability of land, usually old quarries, make recycling programmes often uneconomical. It is heartening to note that many companies in ME have taken the initiative and are setting up zero waste plants where no waste is sent to the landfill, following countries such as Australia, New Zealand, US, Brazil, UK, Germany and Norway. For instance, under its Sustainable Living Plan, Unilever factory, which was producing up to 450 tons of waste per year requiring 31,000 sq. meters of landfill space, is today generating zero waste. This reduction is the equivalent of saving 12,280 trees, and cutting back emissions by 904 tons. To achieve sustainable development, it will be necessary to make fundamental changes in production and consumption patterns and to make these changes in all ME countries. This will have social, economic, and environmental benefits. Furthermore, the national and regional recycling goals and targets are to be set in all ME countries like in European Union, which has planned to meet a recycling goal of 1.7 million tons per year. In conclusion, avoiding, reducing and minimising waste, using garbage bags, containers/ bins, disposal of waste in municipal bins, waste sorting and segregation, supporting recycling, utilising organics, avoiding littering and changing our attitude and behaviour towards waste management will lead to a zero waste society. The author is Head of Waste Disposal Unit, Supreme Council for Environment, Kingdom of Bahrain.