Qatar has made significant progress in waste recycling. The measures taken by the country have contributed to environmental preservation, pollution reduction, resource and energy conservation, consumption reduction and improved production process efficiency.
The nation succeeded in recycling all waste generated during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, achieving a 100% recycling rate, which was a significant milestone, making it the first time in the history of FIFA World Cups.
The Mesaieed waste management facility which commenced operations in 2011 is one of the largest specialised waste management facilities in the Middle East, covering an area of three square kilometres with a daily capacity of 2,300 tonnes. The facility has successfully transformed waste into energy, producing approximately 269,000 megawatts of electrical energy, some of which is used for its own operations, and the rest is supplied to the national grid.
According to data from the Planning and Statistics Authority, the total number of new projects subject to environmental impact assessment increased from 2,428 projects in 2021 to 2,676 projects in 2022, reflecting a growing environmental focus alongside developmental progress.
The projects subjected to assessment in the past year included 572 large projects, 1,433 small and medium-sized projects, and 671 industrial projects.
Besides, 99.8% of treated wastewater in 2022 met environmental standards. The number of sewage treatment plants reached 27 with an annual growth rate of 3% from 2014 to 2020. These plants received a total of 291 million cubic metres of sewage water per year, of which 285 million cubic metre was treated, constituting 98 percent of total sewage water in 2020. Treated wastewater is utilised for agricultural irrigation, landscaping irrigation, and some injected into underground reservoirs.
The Ministry of Municipality recently provided containers to households for disposing of recyclable materials and organic waste separately in Onaiza region to mark the beginning of the second phase of the waste sorting at source programme. Two types of containers have been provided to each household: blue and grey. The blue containers are for recyclable materials such as glass, plastic, papers and metals and the grey containers are for food waste and cleaning materials.
The municipality authorities will provide waste containers to all households in Qatar in next five years.
The initiative aims to boost circular economy in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 and replace trash cans at homes. The programme seeks to preserve natural resources for future generations and use recyclable materials to reduce the demand for raw materials.
