WASHINGTON: The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group approved a US$130 million project to support the Moroccan national goal of ensuring all municipal solid waste is disposed in sanitary landfills, along with 20% of all waste recycled, by 2022.
The project will focus on boosting solid waste services in urban areas, while improving conditions and incomes for traditional jobs associated with solid waste management, namely the ‘waste pickers,’ and developing new businesses and jobs based on recycling.
With sixty percent of Morocco’s population living in cities, the country is faced with a pressing demand for more efficient and affordable solid waste management and for sustainably disposing of a growing waste production of around 5.5 million tons per year. The Fourth Municipal Solid Waste Sector Development Policy Loan was designed to support the 15-year National Program for Solid Waste Management.
The ambitious government program has achieved significant results in improving the overall management of solid waste services and nurturing public confidence in its efficiency and reliability. As part of the program, an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 jobs will be created by 2022, through income-generating activities and small enterprises dedicated to waste recycling. More than 15 million people are now benefiting from upgraded municipal solid waste services and the waste collection ratio in urban areas has increased from 45 percent in 2007 to 80 percent today. In addition, more than 35 percent of the waste collected is being disposed in accordance with acceptable social and environmental practices.
