Waste-to-Energy Facilities: A Potential Solution to Morocco’s Waste Management Problem

Morocco’s most infamous landfill, the Mediouna landfill, is on the outskirts of Casablanca. Covering an area of over 70 hectares, it receives 1.2 million tons of waste per year. The toxic fumes waft over to neighboring suburbs, poisoning the air and forcing some people to relocate. For Reda Kabbaj, Mediouna landfill raises urgent questions. Born and raised in Agadir in southern Morocco, Kabbaj is currently an associate partner at MINA Connect, a management and consulting firm based in Pennsylvania, USA. The firm provides project management services and operational support for projects in the areas of water, environment and renewable energy, with a particular focus on African initiatives. Kabbaj is interested in waste management solutions.

 

"Casablanca just throws its waste into the Mediouna landfill. And now the landfill is facing big issues. It’s going to arrive at 99% saturation,” he warns.

"Casablanca is a fast growing city. Landfill is just not suitable for this city anymore.”

Landfills like Mediouna can’t be filled up indefinitely and space around cities for more landfills is limited. So Kabbaj has been thinking about alternatives.

Waste-to-energy plants use combustion technology to burn waste in order to generate steam, electricity, and hot water. Hundreds of these plants already exist around the world, transforming waste from major cities across Europe, Asia, the US, and most recently Africa, into energy.

"Other big cities do their treatment through "waste-to-energy plants” because they have a lot of advantages. For example, the plants save on land. A plant only uses four to eight hectares of land, unlike the 100 hectares required for landfill. Also, it treats the waste using the best technology in the world, reducing its volume by up to 90%,” he explains.

What about carbon emissions? Kabbaj says the technology is clean, and plants are subject to strict emission regulations.