Within the environmental services business segment, two business channels hold significant promise for growth: solid waste management and wastewater treatment works (Fig. 5.12). Waste management is a very important environmental and health issue for all countries in the GCC and other MENA regions due to the high propor- tion of organic materials in the solid waste stream. This, undoubtedly, provides huge business opportunities for recycling activities.
5.7.1 Waste Management
Available statistics show that the GCC region generated 80 million tonnes of waste in 2009. Of this, 53 % is construction and demolition waste, 33 % is municipal solid waste, and 14 % is industrial waste (Fig. 5.13). Saudi Arabia alone accounted for 64 % of the municipal solid waste in the region, followed by the UAE (19 %), and Kuwait (5 %), while Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar each accounts for 4 %.
During the last decade, GCC countries have made tremendous progress towards addressing their solid waste management problems from several angles: policy, le- gal, institutional, operational, and financial levels. At the policy level, many coun- tries already have put in place strategies and national programmes for managing municipal solid waste, even though a lot more needs to be done. Legalistically, there are still flaws in environmental legislation, which is beset by legal inconsistencies and missing rules and regulations, making this an uncertain area for private inves- tors, especially SMEs, to invest in. At the operational level, however, there is a marked improvement in the level of cleanliness of most major cities, resulting from better collection and street sweeping. However, despite efforts to establish sanitary landfills, municipal waste in some countries is generally being disposed of at open dumps, a practice that has major environmental and health implications. Finally, at the financial level, governments in the region remain the major financiers of
GCC, 57%
Europe, 10%
East Asia, 8%
Americas, 17%
North Africa, 6% Rest of World, 2%
Fig. 5.11 Global desalina- tion capacity (31 million m3/ day). (Source: Global Water Intelligence)
155 5.7 Opportunities in the Environmental Services Segment
municipal waste sector, but private sector could easily be attracted if appropriate incentives are guaranteed.
The issue of hazardous industrial and medical wastes has not received adequate policy attention. This is an area that deserves urgent action due to the growing vol- umes of hazardous waste which occur mostly in urban and suburban areas where the population is concentrated and where water and land resources are scarce. There are opportunities for private sector intervention here, as has been illustrated by Jordan’s recent privatization of disposal of medical waste.
The Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) (2011) has argued that the essential actions for moving towards sustainability will involve mul- tiple investors to develop communications strategies and piloting community inter- action in specific cities; complete and update municipal waste management plans;
develop missing policies, laws, and regulations; and design a solid waste manage- ment information system.
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 2028 2029 2030
USD billion
Solid Waste Management Haz Waste Management Consulng & Engineering Remediaon/Ind'l Services Analycal Services Water Treatment Works Fig. 5.12 Global environmental services market forecast. (Source: EBI (2011))
Construcon Municipal 53%
33%
Industrial 14%
Fig. 5.13 Composition of waste in the Gulf Coopera- tion Council (GCC) region, 2009. (Source: http://arabia.
msn.com/Business/News/GF/
KSA/2011/April/4460861.
aspx)
156 5 Environmental Business Channels Opportunities may also exist in the following waste management services:
• Site management and cost recovery
• Specialized services, such as industrial or medical waste servicing
• Financing investment priorities for expanding waste management coverage
• Establishing waste facilities that are affordable and technologically proven, re- habilitating old dumps, and collecting and disposing of hazardous health-care waste
• Recycling and biodegradable plastics activities
The GCC waste management services industry has grown into a multibillion dollar venture, with governments in the region infusing substantial investments into it.
With the escalating awareness about sustainable environmental business practices, Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries are resorting to advanced waste management solutions for treating both domestic and industrial waste. With the rapid urbanisa- tion and industrialisation, coupled with high population and economic growth rates and evolving consumption patterns in the region, the demand for waste manage- ment services in the region is expected to soar. This would generate higher volumes of waste, which will increase the demand for waste management facilities in the region (Sullivan and Frost 2010).
Of course, GCC countries have a penchant for state-of-the-art waste manage- ment solutions for recycling, composting, and even waste-to-energy. This eagerness to adopt green practices has already attracted a number of domestic and internation- al companies to the sector. And the sheer scale of construction activities in the GCC countries could create substantial prospects for the waste management companies that can offer effective disposal, transportation, and recycling services for construc- tion and demolition waste.
5.7.2 Recycling Waste Energy
The recycling of industrial waste energy, especially in the largely untapped area of combined heat and power (CHP), provides yet another fertile area for environmen- tal investment in Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries. Four types of job opportu- nities are associated with energy recycling (Lowe and Gereffi, 2009):
• Jobs in manufacturing the waste energy recovery equipment
• Jobs in creating the ‘energy islands’ where industrial hosts’ waste energy is re- cycled into power
• Jobs in operating and maintaining the on-site energy islands
• Jobs resulting from higher energy productivity and increased competitiveness Recycling industrial waste energy offers considerable potential to save energy, in- crease productivity, reduce greenhouse gases, and create jobs. Recently, the US government has provided crucial support for the development of CHP, including waste energy recycling. Such an incentive provides unique opportunities for ex-