In Meknès, a waste recovery center combines the fight against global warming with social innovation

The city of Meknès had an uncontrolled 25-hectare dumpsite located 5 km from the city. Each year, it received 185,000 tons of waste produced by 650,000 inhabitants from all municipalities within the Meknès Prefecture.

Mountains of waste were accumulating on-site, damaging the environment and posing a health threat to local residents, as well as an ecological risk to the groundwater table and the ecosystem. On a social level, informal sorters lived and worked on the site to collect and resell recyclable materials (plastics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, etc.) recovered from the waste.

In response to this situation, and in line with the National Household Waste Management Program (PNDM) which aimed for a 20% recycling rate for household waste by 2020 the Urban Commune of Meknès launched a tender in 2013. The goal was to rehabilitate the landfill and to create and develop a modern waste disposal and recovery center. This delegated management contract was awarded to SUEZ in January 2014 for a 20 year period.

We managed the design, layout, and equipment of this 56-hectare site, which receives waste from all municipalities in the Meknès Prefecture. The facility includes a 3,000 m sorting hall.

The solutions implemented allow for biogas capture, material sorting and recycling, and compost production.

Biogas, generated by buried waste, is captured through wells drilled into the waste mass after capping. It is then transported via a network of overhead pipes to the recovery unit, where it is used as an energy source for the thermal treatment of concentrates. We plan to recover biogas by producing electricity or potentially supplying kilns at nearby brickworks.

A first for Morocco, the on-site leachate treatment ensures water quality that is safe for nature and can be used for irrigation. The process combines a membrane bioreactor and reverse osmosis filtration, including sludge drying and thermal treatment of concentrates (SUEZ patented EVALIX™ process).

7 000 m² servant à fabriquer du compost à partir des déchets verts et certains types de déchets organiques. Ce compost est destiné à l’amendement des terres agricoles ou des espaces verts du site.

Among its unique features, this project prioritizes the social integration of the 180 informal waste pickers on-site. Having lived for years by selling recoverable waste (plastics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, etc.), these sorters are key players in the project, as they handle the sorting and resale of recyclables within the new center.

 

We assisted and helped the sorters organize into a cooperative called "Attadamoun"*, created in 2014. The goal was to maintain their activity while securing their income and improving their working and safety conditions. Formalizing their work facilitated their social reintegration and created a recognized 'sorter' status. This socially innovative project includes:

• Supporting waste pickers through all stages of the structuring project.
• Assistance from a social mediator and the operator to develop the cooperative's business plan and build commercial ties with downstream recovery branches.
• Providing technical, commercial, accounting, and management training.
• The operator covering investments for basic infrastructure (sorting hall, locker rooms, toilets, offices, storage platform, roads) and part of the initial operating costs (protective equipment, storage tools, and transport for sorted materials).

 

* "Solidarity" in Arabic