Quantifying Municipal Solid Waste Generation and Management in Arab Peninsula Countries: Focusing on Understanding Socioeconomic Influences

Abstract

The massive amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) generated is a major challenge for the SWM system, despite the high income in Arab Peninsula countries. Thus, this research aims to quantify MSW generation and management and investigate the influences of socioeconomic factors. A systematic review was employed to track, collect, and analyse the available original MSW data sources. A quality assurance framework was developed to assess the quality of them, and high-quality data points were selected after a data analysis process for building material flow analysis (MFA) using the STAN software. Correlations between indices were identified through quantitative (linear regression analysis) and qualitative data analytics. The findings show a significant regional variation in MSW generation rates from 0.6 to 1.89 kg/day/person, while Qatar has a notably higher-level rate of 3.82 kg/day/person. The analysis reveals that these MSW generation rates are increasing, primarily due to its strong linear relationship with GDP per capita. Interestingly, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait have made progress with recycling rates of 22%, 22%, and 46%, respectively, while other countries are below 10%. However, all countries still primarily rely on limited-controlled landfills and open dumps. Consequently, despite the weak linear relationships of socioeconomic indices such as EPI, SPI, HDI, and CPI, these factors may still contribute to Yemen's low collection coverage and uncontrolled recovery and disposal. However, this could not be the case for Oman and the UAE, as they have high SPI and HDI. It is found that government policies and regulations, land availability, and infrastructural and technological resources are factors that may impacted the MSWM. Despite new policies and huge investments to improve MSWM in HICs, challenges persist, potentially due to insufficient state commitment to policies or the lack of data showing progress due to the early stage of development. Thus, time could be the primary litmus test for perceiving meaningful transformations in MSWM.