Advancing Jordan’s Solid Waste Management System

CDM Smith supported the local authorities of Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) in implementing a plan to recycle reusable material and to improve their overall waste management system. Jordan’s waste still mostly ends up untreated on landfills. CDM Smith is helping to change this situation. With our professional expertise we supported GAM with the appropriate measures to recycle reusable materials and relieve pressure on local landfill sites, while saving resources and reducing greenhouse gases. Intentionally labour-intensive processes, such as waste separation and manual sorting, will help create new job opportunities for both Jordanians as well as Syrian refugees.

This project was part of a financial joint agreement between the German and Jordanian governments aimed towards reducing the number and size of landfills in Jordan while promoting recycling, with €25 million set aside for building the facilities and equipment necessary. The German public development financing organ­i­sa­tion (KfW) is financing supporting measures such as technical consul­ta­tion on imple­men­ta­tion with an additional €2 million.

We have developed a comprehensive approach to integrated waste management to be passed on to our clients in Amman as part of the planning process. The concept encompassed a number of recovery and recycling alternatives that we presented to a Jordanian delegation on their visit to similar installations in Germany. Moreover, it includes plans for a Mechanical Biological Treatment plant (MBT) and associated equipment, with special emphasis on the production of compost and Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF). We not only prepared a concept and implementation study but also provided GAM with a conceptual design and implementation plan for the new MBT plant, thus enabling KfW to carry out an appraisal which is the prerequisite for obtaining final approval from the German Federal Government to finance the construction of said MBT plant under a new project.

With an integrated waste management, the region of Amman takes a huge step forward in recycling and preserving resources. It is exciting to be part of this process.

Dr Ayman Elnaas, Project Engineer