Up to $85bn needed in investments to achieve sustainable waste management in GCC: Study – The Peninsula

Up to $85bn needed in investments to achieve sustainable waste management in GCC: Study – The Peninsula

Shelly Trench, Managing Director and Partner at BCG.

Doha: With the expansion of GCC urban areas, municipalities in the GCC are challenged to handle the ever-increasing waste generation through the existing landfill strategies. However, many GCC countries are already investing to improve their waste management, with deals soaring in volume and value in 2019, according to a new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in collaboration with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

The report, titled “Recycling in the GCC: Securing Valuable Resources for a Sustainable Future”, finds that securing finite resources for future generations and minimising environmental impact will depend on further increasing waste collection and recycling targets globally as well as across the GCC. The study also highlights key value streams in the GCC to achieve a circular economy by 2040.

The GCC generates between 105 and 130 million tonnes of waste per annum, primarily from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW), and agricultural waste. The joint WBCSD-BCG study estimates that it will take $60-85bn invested across four key value streams, plastic, concrete & cement, metal, and bio-waste over the next 20 years to meet targets throughout the GCC region. This investment would cover design, collection,