As stated earlier, Saudi Arabia’s General Environmental Regulation and Rules for Implementation cover a wide range of areas of environmental protection including environmental standards relating to planning for projects, air and noise pollution and waste. For example, Article 14 of the Saudi Rules for Implementation, which relates to hazardous waste, states that: ‘no person or agency is allowed to dispose of hazardous waste without licence from the PME in accordance with procedures set out in Appendix 4, Hazardous Waste Control Rules and Procedures’. In essence, producers of hazardous wastes in the Kingdom are by law required to confirm with the PME whether or not they generate hazardous wastes as they will be ‘held re- sponsible for the identification of the types of waste and hazardous waste they gen- erate, as well as for ensuring that such wastes are stored, treated and disposed of in an environmentally sound manner that does not cause its dispersal and also does not cause any detrimental effect on man’s health, safety and welfare or the environ- ment and the natural resources (Appendix 4, Article V of Saudi Arabia’s General Environmental Regulation and Rules for Implementation).
21 1.5 Comparing Saudi and Other Countries’ Laws on Waste Control and Management
Indeed, Appendix 4 of the RFI (Rules For Implemenation) sets out detailed require- ments and procedures for hazardous waste management facilities and transporters of hazardous waste, and violation of these rules would result in fines. Article 18.2 of the RFI states that any violation of any of the Articles contained in the RFI will result in a fine; a comprehensive list is spelt out in the following clauses of Appendix 6 of the RFI:
• Appendix 6.7 No. 2: Dealing with hazardous wastes without being licensed by the competent agency—SAR 3,000–5,000.
• Appendix 6.7. No. 24: Transport of hazardous wastes to an agency or facility not authorized by the licensing agency—SAR 2,000–10,000.
• Appendix 6.7 No. 33: Failure to fully treat and dispose of hazardous waste in an appropriate manner—SAR 2,000–10,000 and enforcement of facility to dispose of waste in an appropriate manner specified by the licensing agency.
Despite a strong statutory framework to control hazardous wastes in Saudi Arabia, enforcement challenges appear to be a main source of concern. The effectiveness of any law depends on enforcement mechanisms, and this requires that compliance with the laws is strictly monitored by appropriately resourced agencies with trained personnel. In the absence of appropriate enforcement strategies, it will be difficult to ensure that all of identified wastes will be taken to a treatment facility. This con- trasts sharply with the situations elsewhere around the globe. Most of the advanced countries have robust environmental laws and strict enforcement mechanisms. For example, the German Waste Water Changes Act (AbwAG) of 1976, updated in 1990, ‘…enables the Lander (regions) to impose fees on the discharge of waste and to calculate those fees in respect to the harmfulness of the discharged waste water.
The revenues from those fees have to be spent for measures designed to maintain or improve water quality’. (Neumann 1996).
Similarly, the Swedish Law on Municipal Waste Pollution and Disposal Obliga- tion (Section 8) states that:
Unless other provision is made, municipalities shall ensure that: 1. Household waste gener- ated in the municipality is transported to a waste treatment plant where necessary in order to protect human health and the environment and safeguard private interests; 2. Household waste generated in municipality is recycled or removed. When planning and deciding how to discharge this obligation, the municipality shall take into account the extent to which owners and tenants can dispose of household waste themselves in a manner that is accept- able in terms of protection of human health and the environment. In its planning and deci- sions, the municipality shall also ensure that the removal of waste is appropriate to the needs of various built environment, such plans and decisions should define the conditions in which owners and tenants of properties may themselves dispose of household waste and, where rules issued pursuant to section 10 are applicable, any other waste generated on their premises. (Swedish Ministry of the Environment 2000)
These laws will undoubtedly provide ample business opportunities in the field of wastewater management and recycling.
In the emerging economies, China again provides a classic example of a coun- try that made tremendous progress in implementing appropriate laws on hazardous waste management dubbed the Law of Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Pol- lution to the Environment (Shouren 1999). A number of government agencies were
22 1 Environmental Challenges, Regulations and Institutions in Saudi Arabia established with specific responsibilities to implement the rules and regulations on hazardous waste. These include the State Environmental Protection Administra- tion (SEPA); State Economic Management Departments; and Local Environmental Protection Bureaus. For instance, the SEPA is responsible for the following tasks (Shouren 1999):
• Implementing unanimous monitoring and management on hazardous waste pol- lution prevention and treatment nationwide
• Establishing national catalogue of hazardous waste together with related govern- mental departments
• Promulgating uniform standards and methods of hazardous waste identification and symbols of recognition
• Establishing, together with state economic management department and other related departments, the technical policy on hazardous waste pollution preven-
• Organizing and popularizing progressive techniques and production processes tion and equipment for hazardous waste pollution prevention and treatment
In the case of the State Economic Management Departments, they develop and pro- mote, together with other related state departments, advanced production processes and equipment that produce less amounts of solid waste (cleaner production). In addition, they issue the list of outdated techniques and equipment causing serious pollution that should be banned. On the other hand, the Local Environmental Pro- tection Bureaus supervise and monitor hazardous waste pollution protection; and issue punishment to those that produce but do not treat/dispose of hazardous waste.
Similarly those that have not treated or disposed of hazardous waste or have not met the national demands after treatment/disposal, the wastes will be treated by an assigned agency but the waste generators will be forced to pay for it.
China also has favourable policies on hazardous waste utilization. For instance, the national government publishes a comprehensive list of companies that recycle hazardous wastes and offers them favourable tax incentives. Similarly, enterprises that utilize their own hazardous waste generated as main raw materials for produc- tion get income tax exemption for 5 years. In addition, enterprises that utilize haz- ardous waste generated from other enterprises get income tax reduction or exemp- tion for 1 year (Shouren 1999).
These are noteworthy lessons that Saudi Arabia should seek to adopt and imple- ment. The Kingdom is currently implementing a programme to improve the capacity for enforcement of its environmental regulations but incorporation of best practices from around the world would enhance the enforcement process quite considerably.
Also, there should be an urgent need for extensive public education and cultural change programmes to help improve compliance with environmental regulations in the Kingdom. Thus, in order to enhance the level of enforcement, a number of strat- egies should be implemented by the government and its environmental agency, the PME. However, some of these responsibilities could be outsourced to the private sector provided that the activities of the private companies are appropriately autho- rized in law. Changes to an enforcement regime, however, will require a gradual and