New waste management infrastructures will be built in the coming months in Morocco. These are 19 landfill and waste recovery centres. Nezha El Ouafi, Secretary of State for Sustainable Development, announced this at a meeting in Fez, northwest Morocco, on the project entitled “For effective and efficient waste management in Morocco”, a component of the National Household Waste Programme (PNDM).
During the forum, Nezha El Ouafi recalled that, of the 19 landfill and waste recovery centres planned for this year in the Cherifian kingdom, 11 were already under construction. One example is the Beni Mellal waste recovery centre. It is currently located on a 3.5-hectare site with work that has already progressed by 30%. The plant will be able to process 200 tonnes of waste per day. This waste will be collected in the city of Beni Mellal and the small neighbouring municipalities. The waste will be used to produce biogas and compost for food waste. The rest, i.e. plastic and aluminium waste, will be compacted for other uses.
The construction of the plant will cost a total of 51.6 million Moroccan dirhams, or nearly 5 million euros. Funding for this project is provided by the Secretary of State for Sustainable Development.
Other waste management centres expected by 2022
In total, 50 landfill and waste recovery centres will be set up in Morocco by 2022. They will need a considerable and skilled workforce to operate. So, the Fez meeting was also an opportunity to launch the training of agents for the sorting and recycling of waste.
Initially, 300 people will be trained mainly in the following cities: Beni Mellal, Tangier, Meknes, Marrakech and Ifrane. The Beni Mellal waste sorting and recovery centre is expected to employ 62 staff.
Since the launch of the PNDM, the rate of waste collection and storage in landfills has reached 82.5% in the Cherifian kingdom.
With the new installations, the government is aiming for a 90% quota for the collection rate. Morocco has made significant progress in recent years. In 2008, this rate was only 10% in 2014; it rose to 37%. “These results are achieved thanks in particular to the improvements made to the PNDM in 2014, which concern the substitution of controlled landfill by landfill and recycling centres to make this sector part of a sustainable development approach, and also thanks to the emergency programme for the rehabilitation of illegal landfills, which has made it possible to accelerate the pace and quality of achievements,” says a PNDM report.
Jean Marie Takouleu