waste management needs and opportunities in riyadh: lessons from the kingdom of saudi arabia

  Waste Management Needs and Opportunities in Riyadh: Lessons from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

  Prof Adam Read  Practice Director

2© Ricardo-AEA Ltd Ricardo Energy & Environment in Confidence

• A Personal Welcome• About Ricardo-AEA• Mega Trends - Cities• Waste Management Strategy Goals• Baseline position in KSA• The last 2 years in Riyadh

Overview


A Personal Welcome


• Practice Director @ Ricardo-AEA – 70 consultants focusing on the strategy, waste

service deign & technology due diligence• Internationally renowned expert on waste and

recycling service design, technologies and stakeholder engagement– Fellow of CIWM / Member of ISWA Comms

Working Group• 20 years’ experience (UK and internationally)

– Former Public Servant & Academic• International work includes:

– Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Russia, Beirut, Australia, Eastern Europe, Mali, Guyana, UAE

A personal welcome

Mega Trends - Cities.

Mega Trends - Cities


• Driving a need to close economies and keep resources alive

Resource trajectories, increasing prices & demand

In 2011, nearly a third of all profit warnings issued by FTSE 350 companies were attributed to rising resource costs.

Consumption is outstripping supply


• Population growth continues!• The world is urbanising!

– Cities will increase from 3.6bn people to 6.3bn in the next 40 years– Cities expect to house 2/3 of worlds people in 30 yrs – 75% of KSA population already live in urban cities

• Putting strain on urban infrastructure resulting in poor environmental and public health– AQ in China & India– Lower Life expectancy in Africa

• Changing Consumer Behaviour (increasingly “Western”) is creating higher per capita waste generation– Waste generation in MENA region= 1.6-1.8kg / person / day

Mega Trends


Mega Cities


• World’s cities estimated to generate 1.3 billion tpa of waste• Expected to rise to 2.2 billion by 2025• This will have an impact upon:

– Food demands– Resource demands for the city level economy– Energy demands (transport, air conditioning, power, heat etc.)– Energy use in the middle East may increase by 50% by 2035

• As such waste is no longer the ‘problem’ in isolation, it is part of a wider holistic solution!– Protecting environmental & health– Keeping resources alive that underpin economic growth– Generating jobs & Releasing energy

Mega Trends (continued)

Waste Strategies for Modern Cities.

Waste Strategies for modern cities


• Traditional City Model (linear)– Production – Consumption – Waste Generation - Disposal

• Modern Future Cities– Different loops for different materials– Energy loops– Nutrient loops

•

Traditional vs Modern City Models


Waste Strategy Approaches for Modern Cities


Simplifying this a little .....


• Waste Strategies for Modern Cities will: – Enable the Resource Supply Loops (at different scales) as appropriate– Solve Waste Management Problems – Partially solve Energy Problems– Will supply fuels for transportation (Ethanol / Biodiesel)– Will support Nutrient recovery for agricultural supply chains (feed the

people)

– Waste Management strategies will help underpin modern cities, their growth and sustainability

In Summary

ArRiyadh Waste Management Strategy –

The Context .

ArRiyadh City – The Waste Management Context


• One of the fastest developing and most affluent cities in the Middle East region– population of 5.4million in 2014 due to

grow to 8million by 2030 (40% increase)• In early 1970’s an estimated 26% of the

KSA population lived in rural areas– by 1990 this had risen to 73%

• Modern, developing economy with expanding regional & global integration– economic growth, lifestyle changes &

consumer behaviour is driving increases in the quantities & ranges of wastes

– Current system is wholly inadequate for a modern & growing city

The ‘Growing Pains’ of ArRiyadh


• Waste Strategy being developed focussed on MSW, C&I, C&D

• C&D– large volumes ‘dumped’ around the City

• Municipal and Industrial are similar

• Smaller volumes of medical and sewage sludge wastes

• Data and information on sectors very poor and inadequate for decision making processes

• Poor levels of basic infrastructure and dependence upon dump-sites

• Very low levels of recycling

• Immature waste management system

Waste Quantities and Composition

Source: Ricardo-AEA Data - MSW 2014


The Vision & Strategic Framework.Strategic Principles & Vision


Summary of Strategy Development Tasks


The ArRiyadh Strategy ‘Principles’


The ArRiyadh ‘Vision’

“The City of ArRiyadh will provide regional leadership in waste management, ensuring that the City’s waste is managed as a resource whilst ensuring protection of human health and the environment.

ArRiyadh will seek to minimise the quantity of waste that the City generates, implement best available technologies for the treatment and recovery of value from waste, and will progressively reduce the quantity of material landfilled.

ArRiyadh’s wastes will be managed in a spirit of partnership and in a manner which ensures the management framework will be underpinned by clearly defined roles and responsibilities, coupled with effective enforcement, and proactive partnership between government, business, and ArRiyadh’s citizens.”

High Commission For theDevelopment of ArRiyadh


The ArRiyadh Strategic Framework


Key Priorities (Next 5 Years)

• Phasing out illegal dumping (engineered sites progressing)• Prioritisation of the rehabilitation of old dumpsites

– closure plans/upgrade of existing sites • Take decisions around targets and waste minimisation • Raising public awareness

– waste, recycling & consumption• Collecting / sharing of robust data to base decisions upon• Implementing segregated collection services

– household & commercial properties• Waste Infrastructure Programme for waste treatment• Developing an investment climate to underpin new services


Lessons Learnt.Lessons Learned?


The ‘Challenges’

Lessons Learnt Actions

Fundamental weaknesses in the regulatory and enforcement regimes

Need to be able to enforce and ‘drive’ change

Poor practices in multiple areas of the waste management system

Significant improvements needed in collection, handling and treatment

Poor data and lack of understanding of all waste streams

Multiple waste streams require investment, data gathering, feasibility to set approaches

Lack of significant investment to date resulted in poor practices & inappropriate management

Need to improve services so that they are well run and deliver value for money

Lack of modern approaches to managing wastes, including infrastructure

Significant investment required and step change in management approaches going forward

Large scale growth & development programmes for the City have overlooked parallel changes needed in waste management practices

Strategy incorporates methods to ensure demand does not fall out of sync with capacity


• The need for change is significant!– The system is wholly inadequate for a modern & growing capital city

• Investment will be needed!• New Business Models are required!• BUT the ‘Journey’ is the same:

– Plan direction of travel– Assess how waste is to be treated– Set targets, including recycling & diversion – Accept the need to invest (and encourage it)– Recognise it will be a ‘journey’ - collaborate, negotiate, adapt– Build around ‘best practice’ (and appropriate solutions) – Utilise local champions to ‘lead’ the charge

Reflections ....


Good Morning!


Prof. Adam Read

Global Practice Director

Resource Efficiency & Waste Management

Ricardo Energy & Environment

07968 707 239

[email protected]

ee.ricardo.com

@AdamRead74

Any one for a coffee .....

mailto:[email protected]