Money and business

The circular economy in Jordan .. a vision of a shift towards the green economy, a sustainability and a waste confrontation

Amman, February 5 / WAM / Jordan is moving with great steps towards a shift from the economy based on resource extraction, manufacturing products and disposal of its waste, for the circular economy that depends on resource reuse and waste recycling and producing them again.
The trend towards the circular economy of Jordan is a promising opportunity to achieve sustainable and comprehensive development, fulfill environmental obligations, increase economic growth, raise the added value of local production, and provide new job opportunities.
According to the expediting report by moving to the circular economy in the Arab region, issued by the United Nations Economic and Social Committee for Western Asia (Eskua), the circular economy is a “economy in which materials and products remain under use and help reduce pressure on natural systems, which allows them to renew.”
The Jordanian Ministry of Environment’s interest is based on the circular economy due to its positive effects on the environment, especially in terms of reducing waste quantities through recycling or reuse, etc., reducing greenhouse gases that cause climate change, exploit resources in the maximum degree, and heading towards consumption and sustainable production.
The ministry told the Jordan News Agency (Petra) that “the circular economy is a major component in the efforts of the Jordanian state to shift towards the green economy, in cooperation with partners from the public and private sectors and civil society institutions,” noting that its concepts in school curricula are integrated.
The Ministry has developed the national executive plan for the Green Economy (2021-2025), which is based on six main sectors, namely: energy, water, waste management, agriculture, tourism and transportation, in addition to linking climate work efforts to the circular economy through important projects and documents, such as the document of nationally defined contributions.
The Jordanian Ministry of Environment authorized (183) waste management facilities, including special recycling facilities, including (8) batteries recycling facilities, and (12) oil recycling facilities, and the same for tire recycling.
The Ministry indicated the establishment of (34) stations for collecting and distributing electrical and electrical waste in the governorates of the Kingdom, as well as a license (8) facilities for electronic and electrical waste recycling.
The vision of economic modernization, which is a “road map” of the Jordanian economy, is seeking; To enhance economic growth and generate new job opportunities while ensuring the preservation of natural and environmental resources, it has set within the sustainable environment engine several goals to reduce, recycle and use waste.
The vision of economic modernization in Jordan aims to achieve a sustainable economic transformation, which enhances economic growth and addresses structural challenges in the Jordanian economy, as it placed the circular economy among its priorities under the seventh engine, a “sustainable environment” engine.
The vision highlighted the preparation of the criteria for the circular economics practices in industrial activities and focus on environmental industrial complexes within the engine of high -value industries as well, at a time when the rate of waste generation per person in Jordan is about 0.8 to 1 kg for each individual.
The executive summary of the green growth sector in the vision of economic modernization in Jordan identified six strategic sectors to lead the green growth march; It is energy, water, waste, transportation, tourism and agriculture, in addition to the need for a financing strategy.
The summary pointed out that the global and national responses for climate change provides an opportunity for Jordan to achieve green growth and recovery through sustainable energy, green transport, resource efficiency, cleanliness of cleaning, recycling and recycle waste and smart cultivation.
The Jordanian Strategies Forum, one of the private sector institutions, believes that the perspective of waste management and the efficiency of resource use to the full integration of all the principles of the circular economy can provide Jordan for more social, economic and environmental gains.
The forum indicated that the manufacturing industry is the largest sector in Jordan, and it is expected that the size of this sector will double by 2033 to generate about 260 thousand new jobs in the chemical industries, textiles, food, medicines and engineering industries such as the main production lines.
These sectors combined large amounts of energy and resources, making them a candidate, in a major way, to implement the circular economy approach that aims to increase efficiency, reduce waste, and enhance sustainability practices.
Two years ago, Jordan launched a project to implement integrated practices related to the efficiency of the use of cleaner resources and production applied in industrial facilities for the purposes of implementing technical and consulting services to implement the cleaner and efficient production methodology in the use of resources for about 15 industrial facilities targeting the industrial sectors in the general governorates of the Kingdom.
According to statistical data by the Jordanian Ministry of Environment; The annual waste production rate in the Kingdom is 2.7 million tons, the amount of municipal solid waste is 2.5 million tons per year, 50 percent of which are organic, the amount of medical waste is 2745 tons per year, and the amount of dangerous industrial waste is 45 thousand tons per year, while the percentage of plastic waste from Total waste, about 35 percent.
The data indicate that 90 percent of urban areas and 70 percent of the rural areas of Jordan are covered with the service of collecting solid waste, and that a large part of it is such as consuming mineral oils and acidic hero batteries consumed; It is recycled and transferred to the center of dangerous waste treatment, with the equivalent of 2000 tons annually.
As part of Jordan’s efforts in recycling projects, the first (recycling banks) center was established in the capital, Amman, and is designed to meet international best practices in commercial waste recycling, by receiving recyclable materials separated from the source such as plastic, paper, metal and cardboard.
The head of the Jordan Chamber of Industry, Fathi Al -Jaghbir, emphasized the existence of increased growth in industries that depend on sustainable and rounded materials in Jordan, such as the construction industry, which started using recycled bricks, in addition to some food, chemical, paper, cardboard, plastic and construction industries.
He said that “the renewable energy sector is one of the main factors in supporting the circular economy, by providing clean and sustainable energy, in addition to the agricultural sector that benefits from the practices of the circular economy through the application of sustainable agriculture systems, such as organic agriculture and recycling agricultural waste for use as fertilizer or power generation.”
In an interview with (Petra), Eng. Al -Jaghbir stressed that there is an increasing interest from industrial companies in Jordan to implement practices related to the circular economy, especially with the increasing environmental awareness and supporting government legislation for these trends.
He explained that the circular economy has become a pillar of effective solutions to face waste challenges and the use of natural resources, which enhances the competitiveness of the industrial sectors. It also contributes to strengthening Jordan’s reputation in international markets, especially those that focus on sustainable products, with the increasing global demand for products that adopt environmental standards.
He pointed out that Jordan will benefit from this shift by improving the quality of products and reducing costs, enhancing the efficiency of resources and opening new opportunities for industrial innovation, as well as reducing environmental impacts, which enhances the long -term national interest.
And that the circular economy plays an important role in achieving sustainability, reducing waste and increasing the efficiency of resources through its contribution to achieving the balance between the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, while increasing the efficiency of the use of materials that can recycle and use what reduces waste levels, and contributes to preserving resources Natural, which enhances the forms of environmental sustainability and maintaining different natural resources.
Eng. Al -Jaghbir pointed out that the circular economy enhances innovation operations in a large way, as recycling operations are wide and innovative, whether by recycling mechanisms or products and outputs of this process, as companies encourage the design of long -lasting products and can be recycled easily or dismantled to reuse them. In addition, some recycling operations result in various forms of energy, in addition to research and development in new environmentally friendly materials such as biomed or recycled concrete.
For his part, the representative of the food and food industries sector in the Jordan Chamber of Industry, Muhammad Walid Al -Jitzan, stressed that the food manufacturing sector depends on the adoption of many practices of the circular economy, and showed remarkable interest in the reuse of materials and resources to improve efficiency and reduce losses, and the use of organic waste in fertilizer or energy production The vitality, which made the sector a pioneer in improving product quality and reducing costs.
He said that the food industries sector has become one of the most prominent sectors that depend on long -lasting products, recycling or dismantling, sustainable and rounded materials, in addition to adopting the concept of innovation in designing rotable or biological packaging materials.
Al -Jaytan emphasized that these production practices reduce the environmental impact and contribute to achieving a comprehensive environmental and economic sustainability, in addition to applying practices for reusing water resulting from manufacturing operations, and taking advantage of secondary products, fruit scales, seeds, and others in producing additional foodstuffs.
In turn, the Executive Director of the Smart Systems Company, Samer Al -Zumar, said that the company focuses on recycling various materials, including municipal waste, rubber tires, plastic waste and agricultural waste, and converting many types of waste into alternative fuel that can be used in the industry and many home applications and poultry raising such as heating .
He said that the various sectors in Jordan suffer from the high energy bill used either for production or heating, and at the same time the waste constitutes a accumulated problem that affects the environment, groundwater and greenhouse gas emissions, which prompted his company to provide environmental solutions to convert the waste into a sustainable source of energy and convert it to solid fuel or Liquid is easily used in various facilities.
And that the company occupied a main waste sorting station in the capital, Amman, and established a factory in the city of Mafraq, 80 km north of the Jordanian capital, Amman, in addition to installing production lines in the Al -Muwaqqar and Daafa regions, south of Amman.
Al -Zumar considered that the recycling of waste can provide a new circle in the economy based on the use of low -cost raw materials, and in the end the production of acceptable quality products, taking into account the high ability of this industry to compete in contrast to other industries, in addition to the ability of this industry to solve many Environmental problems, reduce the costs of treating them in waste dumps, and reducing the high energy bill for industry and homes.
The representative of the plastic and rubber industries sector in the Jordan Chamber of Industry, Alaa Abu Khaznah, pointed out that the plastic industries sector in Jordan depends on practices that flow into the circular economy by collecting, sorting and recycling plastic waste and converting them into other products, by collecting waste and transporting them to sorting and cleaning areas And transfer them to specialized recycling factories, and convert them into raw plastic granules, used in multiple productions.
According to Abu Khaznah; There is no accurate data on the number of workers in the recycling sector in Jordan, expecting tens of thousands of workers involved in the full recycling chain.
He pointed out that there are many companies that have developed their business in a significant way in this field, although local waste is not sufficient for a large production capacity.
In addition, the deputy general manager of the Jordanian Industrial Giant Group, Eng. Muhammad al -Smadi, said that the group believes that the circular economy is the future that the industry must adopt to preserve the environment and enhance the sustainability of resources, so innovative and advanced practices were applied to achieve this goal.
Engineer Al -Smadi entered the practices that the group applies, which are the recycling of plastic production waste inside the group’s factories, and its use again in our production operations, which reduces waste and enhances the efficiency of the use of raw materials, in addition to recycling water resulting from groundwater treatment and collecting rain water in wells intended to use them In irrigation of green spaces around the facilities.
And that the group is currently studying a project to recycle wastewater to produce water suitable for human use, which contributes to promoting water sustainability and reducing the environmental impact, while the future goal is to reach facilities that apply the policy All water resulting from operations and not draining any fluids to the environment.
“In 2018, we started updating all combustion systems to convert them from diesel to liquefied gas, and we are currently working to launch our operations using natural gas from Jordanian feather fields, and we have created the largest solar energy project on the ceilings in Jordan with a capacity of 3 MW, which covers approximately 70 percent of the group’s electric power needs, helping to reduce the carbon footprint resulting from the use of traditional energy. “

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