Qatar to increase solid waste recycling as construction waste falls

Qatar has set itself a target to recycle 15 per cent of solid waste generated in the country over the next four years, according to the Qatar Second National Development Strategy (NDS2). The state is making significant efforts to increase the waste recycling rate and promote environmental awareness on reducing the quantity of domestic solid waste.

The generation of total solid waste (construction, domestic and others) on the country increased from 8Mt in 2008 to 12Mt in 2013. However, it declined to 9.8Mt in 2014 and continued to fall to 7.7Mt in 2015. The main reason behind the fall is a declining production of construction waste that constitutes 70-80 per cent of waste.

However, as the infrastructure works of the FIFA World Cup and related demolition and rebuilding of enterprises is nearing completion, the generated amount of construction waste is expected to decrease. A high proportion of construction waste, especially cement, brick and tile waste, is fully suitable for crushing and recycling as a replacement of gravel extracted from new quarries in some lower applications.

Domestic solid waste usually consists of different proportions of organic matter (food waste, etc), paper, plastics, glass, metals, fabrics, bones, leather, home dust, etc. Domestic solid waste in Qatar is the second largest source of waste after construction waste.