MUSCAT, July 20 (KUNA) -- Volume of collected waste in the GCC member states in the end of 2023 amounted to some 262.7 tons, rising by 153.7 percent compared to 2019, said a report by the Oman-headquartered GCC Statistical Center.
Total treated waste reached, in the same period, 192 million tons, climbing by 128.5 percent, while the per capita residential garbage dropped by 17.4 percent, estimated at 1.4 kilograms per person a day, the report said.
Proportion of accumulated non-hazardous waste reached 99.2 percent, percentage of dangerous waste, exported for treatment or recycling abroad, was estimated at 95.8 percent.
The GCC states have succeeded in attaining Goal-12, one of the sustainable development objectives related to recycling of hazardous waste, at a 30 percent rate in 2023.
The report added that volume of the accumulated waste in the health sector, in the post COVID-19 period, reached 11.4 percent in 2023, in contrast to 2022, affirming that the GCC countries made headways in treating medical waste, with the number of medical incinerators hitting 23 in 2023, rising by 27.8 percent compared to 2022.
Accommodation space of these incinerators, during the same duration, increased by 123.9 percent reaching 127,5 thousands metric tons while the volume of the assembled dangerous waste in the industrial sector, after the COVID crisis, climbed by 23.8 percent in 2023, also in contrast to the previous year.
As to municipal waste, household junk dropped over the past three years after peaking in 2020 with 35.5 million tons in records, while in the end of 2023, the record showed 30.8 million tons.
Accumulated agricultural waste rose by 44 percent in 2023 reaching 2.5 million tons, compared to 2.0 million tons in 2022, 1.7 million tons in 2019, while the municipal waste from other economic sectors climbed from 11.9 million tons in 2019 to 14.3 million tons in 2023.
Moreover, a report released by the Intelligence Mordor agency showed that the value of the trash management in the GCC countries stood at USD 68.3 billion in 2025, forecast to soar to USD 97.4 billion by 2030, with a projected annual growth estimated at 7.4 percent during the 2025-2030 period.
The Oman-headquartered center is the official authority for publishing information and statistics about the planning departments in the GCC countries.
The GCC is a regional bloc founded in the early 80s of the past century to cement cooperation among the regional Arabian countries in various sectors. It comprises Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain. (end) nfa.rk