This document discusses waste management needs and opportunities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It provides background on current waste issues like illegal dumping, lack of infrastructure and data, and an inadequate system for a growing city. The strategic framework for Riyadh aims to minimize waste, implement best treatment technologies, and reduce landfilling over 5 years. Key priorities include phasing out dumping, rehabilitating old dumps, setting targets, public awareness campaigns, segregated collection, and developing waste treatment infrastructure. Lessons indicate significant investment and new business models are needed to improve practices and deliver modern waste management for the city's future.

1. Waste Management Needs and
Opportunities in Riyadh: Lessons
from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Prof Adam Read
Practice Director

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

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A Personal Welcome

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• 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

5. Mega Trends - Cities.
Mega Trends - Cities

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• 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

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• 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

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Mega Cities

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• 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)

10. Waste Strategies for Modern Cities.
Waste Strategies for
modern cities

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• 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

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Waste Strategy Approaches for Modern Cities

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Simplifying this a little .....

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• 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

15. ArRiyadh Waste Management Strategy –
The Context .
ArRiyadh City – The Waste
Management Context

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• 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

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• 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

18. ArRiyadh Waste Management Strategy –
The Vision & Strategic Framework.Strategic Principles &
Vision

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Summary of Strategy Development Tasks

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The ArRiyadh Strategy ‘Principles’

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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 the
Development of ArRiyadh

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The ArRiyadh Strategic Framework

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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

25. ArRiyadh Waste Management Strategy –
Lessons Learnt.Lessons Learned?

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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

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• 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 ....

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Good Morning!

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Prof. Adam Read
Global Practice Director
Resource Efficiency & Waste Management
Ricardo Energy & Environment
07968 707 239
adam.read@ricardo.com
ee.ricardo.com
@AdamRead74
Any one for a coffee .....