Towards sustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management in Jordan
A life cycle assessment study
Mahdi Ikhlayel, Yoshiro Higano1, Helmut Yabar1, Takeshi Mizunoya1
Exclusive summary
This research analyzes the Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) system in Jordan from the cradle tothe grave and is based on life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques using Amman City as a case study. The
purpose is to achieve a sustainable MSWM system that is environmentally effective, socially acceptable, andeconomically affordable. Twenty-three alternative waste management scenarios are proposed and modeled basedon specific waste collection, treatment, and final disposal methods. The alternative scenarios included different
waste treatment technologies optimized for landfill minimization, recycling, waste-to-energy and global
warming emission reduction. The national agenda for MSWM in Amman City is included in the scenarios.
Through the use of LCA techniques, the overall environmental burden associated with each scenario isestimated, comprehensively evaluated and compared to the existing modeled waste management system (thebaseline scenario). The research applied Global Warming Potential (CO2 and CH4 emissions), acidification
potential (SOx and NOx emissions), ground water pollution from landfill, recycled credits and final disposal
waste as major indicators to assess the environmental impacts. The initial research results show that Integrated
Solid Waste Management (ISWM) could potentially minimize environmental effects, increase recycling levels,and decrease final disposal waste. Scenarios that are based on the idea of sustainability would be the mostenvironmental and cost-effective ones. Moreover, the results show that waste separation at source, if applied,
would potentially increase the recycling rate by up to 25 percent compared with recycling without waste
separation at source.
Introduction
Jordan is among the countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region that decided to move awayfrom traditional Solid Waste Management (SWM) approaches to more Integrated Solid Waste Management(ISWM) options. The current MSWM system does not meet the idea of sustainable development for a country
that is well known for its limited natural resources. The lack of technical support and the absence ofcomprehensive studies; besides limited financial support makes it an obstacle to move towards an ISWM plan.
With this in mind, this research was motivated to focus on the environmental aspects of the MSWM issue inJordan through the use of the capital city as a case study.
Environmental issues in Jordan
A study done by the World Bank in 2006 showed that the cost of environmental degradation in Jordan wasestimated to be 2.35% of the country's GDP. The magnitude of environmental damage estimated for eachenvironmental area including air, water, waste, soil and coastal zone.
The environmental degradation caused by the improper disposed waste was ranked third or 0.23% of GDP,
where; for example, water ranked second (0.81% of GDP) [1]. Another study in 2005 developed by the Yale
Center of Environmental Law and Policy at Columbia University evaluated the Environmental Sustainability
Index (ESI) of 146 countries. When Jordan’s environmental performance is compared to other countries in theMENA region, Jordan performed well compared to other countries and it ranked third in the region and 84th
worldwide [1]. However, the good environmental performance of Jordan can be attributed to the fact that Jordan
has less energy depletion and low values of natural resources [1]. The results of the study are important in thesense that they imply that the country has a greater capacity compared to other countries in the region to address
its environmental issues, and to achieve a better degree of sustainable development and waste management.
Waste management issues in Jordan are not only connected to air pollution problems, but also to watercontamination issues, in which Jordan is ranked second (0.81% of GDP) in the World Bank study. Water

contamination and water management are one of the top environmental issues in the country’s environmental
national agenda since Jordan has some of the scarcest water resources in the world. Around 75% of Jordanianlands are semi-desert areas characterized as arid areas [2] with an average annual precipitation estimated in therange of 50-630mm per year and a water availability of 147m3 per capita in 2010 [3]The current MSWM situation in Jordan
Jordan is a lower middle-income country with a GDP per capita of $USD 6,000. The population in 2012 isestimated at 6.4 million with 2.2 percent population growth where 38 percent of the Jordanian people live inAmman city and 82 percent of the overall population lives in urban areas. The country’s average per capita ofMSW generation is 0.9 kg per day (328 kg per year), 0.95 kg in urban and 0.85 kg per day in rural areas with anaverage household of 5.4 persons. Municipal waste generated annually in Jordan is estimated at 2.1 million tons,
which can be translated to 5,773 tons per day with MSW generation at an annual growth of 3.3 percent. Forty
percent of this amount is generated in Amman City and landfilled in the Al-Ghabawi landfill site, the only
sanitary landfill in Jordan; established using international standards, and meeting the World Health Organization(WHO) standards. Al-Ghabawi site was established with the help of the World Bank, and it is registered as a
CDM project, located 9 km from the boundaries of Amman Greater Municipality (AGM) and 8 km from thenearest inhabited area. A total of 20-landfill site are available in Jordan with a total area of 756 hectares. Exceptfor the Al-Ghabawi landfill site, 35 percent of the waste is landfilled in controlled dump sites. Eighty-five
percent of the generated MSW is landfilled in 20-landfill sites and 10 percent is recycled, with the remaining
percentage being open-dumped.
Despite such issues in the current MSWM system in Jordan, the country has improved its waste management
during the last ten years. For example, Amman City has successfully moved from unsanitary landfilling to moresanitary Methane collection and electricity generation, along with the registration of two projects of Carbon
Development Mechanism (CDM). However, Landfill is still the major solid waste treatment technology utilized
at 19 unsanitary sites throughout the country, leading to environmental problems and devaluing of MSW andnatural resources as well. Although electricity is generated from two landfill sites (one is closed and the other isin operation) and they can offset some economic damage, there is still significant potential for environmental
degradation from the landfill sites where 74% (by area) of the landfill sites comprise the unsanitary type.
Moreover, official recycling is undeveloped and is not seriously implemented in Jordan, and most recycling
practices are either informal or supported by NGO’s. Up to now, there is no clear MSWM plan as well as nospecific legal frameworks for SWM in place. SWM is generally governed by regulations.
The current MSWM in AMMAN City
Amman is the capital city of Jordan with a total population of 2.4 million, which represents 38% of Jordan’s
population, and the served area is 1,680 km 2. Waste generation in Jordan is seasonal since the country is an
attractive destination for tourism as well as for medical tourism, where visitors come from nearby countries andfrom other destinations. In the summer season, the population increases to 3 million. Amman is the backbone of
Jordan’s economy; about 50% of the employment opportunities are in Amman and 80% of economic activities.
Amman generates 2,400 tons of waste per day that can be translated to 0.876 million tons per year. The AlGhabawi landfill site is where the city disposes of its waste. In this research, the total amount of MSWM
modeled is 1 million tons per year, representing an estimate of the amount disposed of in the Al-Ghabawi
landfill site. The MSWM collection coverage in Amman is 100% (2100 tons day on average) and the city isdivided into six operational zones and 27 districts. In total, the MSWM is collected in 20,000 containers and thesize for each is 1.1 m3 [6]. The waste composition in Amman is as follows: 20% paper, 2% glass, 2% metal, 16%plastic, 7% textiles, 44% organics, 9% others [9].

Model description and Implementation
Integrated Waste Management IWM-2 is a holistic mathematical model used in this research to comparescenarios and technologies holistically. The model is used to evaluate all waste management processes includingcollection, transfer, recycling, source reduction, composting, sanitary and unsanitary landfilling, incineration, biogasification, Waste-to-Energy and recycling. The model is also used to assess the environmental impacts throughemission tradeoffs and will be used later for Full Cost Accounting (FCA) for each Table 1 shows the main
inserted values in the IWM-2 model in the waste collection and sorting stages and the assumptions that are madein this research.
Scenarios
Table 1 shows the twenty-four scenarios designed and modeled including the baseline scenario, which
represents the current waste management situation in Amman.
Table 1: List of modeled scenarios (24 scenarios including the baseline scenario)

No.

Scenario

Description

1

Baseline

The baseline scenario (current situation)

2S1

2x the current recycling rate

3

S2

Source reduction by 20% without sorting,

4

S3

S2 + Full capacity of the bio gasification plant

5S4

S1+ S3 + Sorting

6S5

Baseline + Sorting.

7S6

S11 + Sorting

8S7

Baseline + Composting

9S8

S2 + Sorting10

S9

S1 + S2 + Sorting + 2x the bio gasification capacity

11

S10

S1 + Composting

12

S11Baseline + Incineration

13

S12

S1 + Sorting

14

S13

S12 + Composting + Full capacity of bio gasification + Incineration

15

S14

S12 + Composting + Full capacity of bio gasification

16

S16

S13 + Energy recovery from incineration (electricity)

17

S17

S11 + Energy recovery from incineration (electricity)

18

S18

S4 + Composting + Sorting + Full capacity of bio gasification

19

S19

S7 + Sorting + 2x the capacity of the bio gasification plant

20

S20

S21 + S19

21

S21

S1 + S2 + Sorting

22

S22

S3 + Sorting

23

S23

S12 + Full capacity of the bio gasification plant.

24

S24

S2 + SortingInitial research results
The current environmental issues in the baseline scenario are: pollution of Chloride, BOD, Suspended Solids,Total Organic Carbon TOC, and NOx emissions. COD emissions are found to be the lowest.
The global warming potential estimated in the Baseline scenario is 3.4 million tons where 94% of this amountis caused at the landfill site from electricity generation. However, since Methane is collected in Al-Ghabawi
landfill, the released amount of CH4 is negligible compared with Carbon Dioxide emissions that are emitted
through electricity generation and transportation. Scenarios that could potentially minimize GWP are S20, S18and S10 respectively. These scenarios are based on the idea of sustainability; i.e., implementation of recycling
with sorting, composting, and bio gasification. These scenarios can reduce the GWP up to 94%, 57%, and 43%
respectively; while S20 is the most sustainable scenario.
Conclusion
The MSWM issue in Jordan was analyzed, and the major problems were identified. To tackle these problems,different improvement MSWM scenarios were designed and modeled using the mathematical IWM-2 model.
The 23 scenarios were compared to the baseline scenario through LCA techniques based on specificenvironmental indicators. The initial research results show that ISWM could potentially minimize environmental
effects, increase recycling levels, and decrease the final disposal waste.
Scenarios that are based on the idea of sustainability are the most environmental and cost-effective ones.
Moreover, the results show that waste separation at source, if applied, would potentially increase the recycling
rate by up to 25 percent compared with recycling without waste separation at source. Sorting not only canincrease the recovered materials but also can contribute to reduction in environmental degradation. The research
results show that materials that have potential for recycling were estimated as 24% of the MSWM functionalunit. These results can help decision makers and people engaged in waste management issues in Jordan toidentify the best and most suitable waste management system for the city and the county as well.

12. References[1] World Bank, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: country environmental analysis, 2009[2] Jordan Statistical department, http://www.dos.gov.jo/dos_home_e/main/index.htm accessed (1/4/2011)[3] Jordan Ministry of Environment, http://www.moenv.gov.jo, accessed (10/4/2011)[4] The World Bank, global study for purpose of global World Bank guidance development, 2008,