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5/2/2025

Jordan is making significant progress in transitioning from an economy based on resource extraction, product manufacturing, and waste disposal to a circular economy that focuses on reusing resources, recycling waste, and repurposing materials. This shift towards a circular economy presents a promising opportunity for Jordan to achieve sustainable and inclusive development, fulfill environmental commitments, boost economic growth, increase the added value of local production, and create new job opportunities.

According to the report on accelerating the transition to a circular economy in the Arab region by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), the circular economy is defined as "an economy where materials and products remain in use, helping to reduce pressures on natural systems and allowing for their renewal."

The Jordanian Ministry of Environment places a strong focus on the circular economy due to its positive environmental impacts, especially in terms of reducing waste through recycling or reuse, decreasing greenhouse gases contributing to climate change, maximizing resource utilization, and promoting sustainable consumption and production.

The Ministry stated to the Jordan News Agency (Petra) that "the circular economy is a key component of Jordan’s efforts to transition to a green economy, in collaboration with public and private sector partners and civil society institutions," noting that its principles are being integrated into school curricula.

The Ministry has developed the National Executive Plan for the Green Economy (2021-2025), which focuses on six key sectors: energy, water, waste management, agriculture, tourism, and transportation, in addition to linking climate action efforts with the circular economy through important projects and documents, such as the Nationally Determined Contributions document.

The Jordanian Ministry of Environment has licensed 183 facilities to manage waste, including those for recycling, such as eight for battery recycling, 12 for oil recycling, and a similar number for tire recycling. Additionally, the Ministry has established 34 stations for collecting electronic and electrical waste across the Kingdom's governorates and licensed eight facilities for recycling this type of waste.

Jordan's economic modernization vision, which serves as a "roadmap" for the country's economy, aims to enhance economic growth and generate new job opportunities while ensuring the preservation of natural and environmental resources. Within its sustainable environment driver, several objectives were defined, including reducing and recycling waste. The vision also emphasizes achieving sustainable economic transformation, addressing structural challenges in Jordan’s economy, and placing the circular economy among its priorities under the seventh driver: "Sustainable Environment."

The vision highlights the development of circular economy practices in industrial activities and focusing on environmental industrial clusters within the high-value industries driver, while noting that the per capita waste generation rate in Jordan is about 0.8 to 1 kg per individual.

The executive summary of the Green Growth Sector in Jordan's Economic Modernization Vision outlines six strategic sectors to lead the green growth journey: energy, water, waste, transportation, tourism, and agriculture, as well as the need for a financing strategy. It also points out that global and national responses to climate change provide an opportunity for Jordan to achieve green growth and recovery through sustainable energy, green transportation, resource efficiency, and recycling and reusing waste, along with climate-smart agriculture.

The Jordan Strategy Forum, a private sector institution, believes that expanding the circular economy principles beyond waste management and resource efficiency into full integration can offer Jordan more social, economic, and environmental gains. The forum noted that manufacturing is the largest sector in Jordan, and its size is expected to double by 2033, generating around 260,000 new jobs in chemical industries, textiles, food, pharmaceuticals, and engineering industries as main production lines. These sectors consume large amounts of energy and resources, making them prime candidates for implementing a circular economy approach aimed at improving efficiency, reducing waste, and enhancing sustainability practices.

Two years ago, Jordan launched a project to implement integrated practices related to resource efficiency and cleaner production in industrial facilities. The goal was to provide technical and consulting services for adopting cleaner production methodologies and efficient resource use in around 15 target industrial facilities across the Kingdom’s governorates.

According to statistics from the Jordanian Ministry of Environment, the annual waste production rate in the Kingdom is 2.7 million tons, with municipal solid waste accounting for 2.5 million tons per year, 50% of which is organic. The quantity of medical waste is 2,745 tons per year, while hazardous industrial waste amounts to 45,000 tons annually. Plastic waste makes up about 35% of the total waste.

The data also shows that 90% of urban areas and 70% of rural areas in Jordan are covered by solid waste collection and management services. A significant portion of waste, such as used mineral oils and lead-acid batteries, is recycled and sent to hazardous waste treatment centers, totaling about 2,000 tons annually.

As part of Jordan's recycling efforts, the first "Recycling Banks" center was established in the capital, Amman. This facility is designed to meet the best international practices for recycling commercial waste by receiving recyclable materials separated at the source, such as plastic, paper, metal, and cardboard.

Jordan’s Chamber of Industry Chairman, Fathi Al-Jaghbeer, confirmed that there is growing demand from industrial companies in Jordan to apply circular economy practices, particularly with increasing environmental awareness and government support for these trends.

Al-Jaghbeer emphasized that the circular economy has become a key solution for addressing waste challenges and natural resource utilization, enhancing the competitiveness of industrial sectors. It also contributes to strengthening Jordan’s international reputation, especially in markets focused on sustainable products, as global demand for environmentally compliant products rises.

He noted that Jordan will benefit from this shift by improving product quality, reducing costs, increasing resource use efficiency, and opening new opportunities for industrial innovation while minimizing environmental impacts. This will enhance national interests in the long term. The circular economy plays a crucial role in achieving sustainability, reducing waste, and enhancing resource use efficiency, contributing to a balance between the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

Al-Jaghbeer also pointed out that the circular economy significantly boosts innovation, as recycling processes are vast and innovative, whether through recycling mechanisms, products, or outputs. This encourages companies to design products that last longer and can be easily recycled or disassembled for reuse. Some recycling processes even generate various forms of energy. Additionally, research and development into new environmentally friendly materials, such as biodegradable plastics or recycled concrete, is an area of focus.

Mohammad Walid Al-Jaitan, representative of the food and beverage industries sector in the Jordan Chamber of Industry, stated that the food manufacturing sector is increasingly adopting circular economy practices. The sector has shown considerable interest in reusing materials and resources to improve efficiency, reduce waste, and use organic waste for producing fertilizer or bioenergy. This has made the sector a leader in enhancing product quality and reducing costs.

He further mentioned that the food industries sector is among the most prominent sectors relying on long-lasting, recyclable, or disassemblable products, sustainable materials, and innovation in designing recyclable or biodegradable packaging materials. This practice contributes to environmental sustainability and economic viability.

Samir Al-Zumar, the executive director of Smart Systems Company, explained that the company focuses on recycling various materials, including municipal waste, rubber tires, plastic waste, and agricultural residues. They convert many types of waste into alternative fuel for use in industries and various household applications, such as heating.

Al-Zumar noted that various sectors in Jordan face high energy bills for production and heating, while waste accumulation poses an environmental problem affecting groundwater and greenhouse gas emissions. This has led his company to offer environmental solutions for transforming waste into a sustainable energy source, converting it into solid or liquid fuel for easy use in various facilities.

The company has operated a main waste sorting station in Amman, established a factory in Mafraq (80 kilometers north of Amman), and installed production lines in the Maqar and Dabbah regions south of Amman.

Al-Zumar concluded that recycling waste can create a new circular economy based on the use of low-cost raw materials, leading to acceptable-quality products, with high competitiveness, unlike other industries. Furthermore, recycling can solve many environmental problems and reduce waste disposal costs in landfills while cutting energy bills for industry and households.

Alaa Abu Khazneh, representative of the plastic and rubber industries sector in the Jordan Chamber of Industry, mentioned that the plastic industry in Jordan is already adopting circular economy practices through the collection, sorting, and recycling of plastic waste into other products. This involves collecting waste, transporting it to sorting and cleaning areas, then sending it to specialized recycling factories, where it is transformed into raw plastic pellets used in multiple productions.

Abu Khazneh noted that there are no precise statistics on the number of workers in the recycling sector in Jordan but estimated that tens of thousands are involved in the entire recycling chain. Several companies have significantly expanded their activities in this field, despite local waste not being sufficient for large-scale production capacity.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Al-Samadi, Deputy General Manager at Al-Omlaq Industrial Group, emphasized that the group believes circular economy principles are essential for ensuring environmental sustainability and resource continuity. As a result, they have implemented innovative and advanced practices to achieve this goal, including recycling production waste within their factories and using it in their production processes, reducing waste and enhancing material efficiency. They have also recycled groundwater treatment water and collected rainwater in designated wells for irrigating green areas around their facilities.

Al-Samadi mentioned that the group is currently studying a project to recycle wastewater for producing water suitable for human use, which contributes to water sustainability and reduces environmental impact. Their future goal is to establish facilities that apply the "Zero Discharge Liquids" policy, meaning all wastewater produced during operations is reused without discharging any liquids into the environment.

He added, "In 2018, we began updating all combustion systems to shift from diesel to liquefied gas, and we are currently launching operations using natural gas from the Risha fields in Jordan. We also established the largest rooftop solar energy project in Jordan, with a capacity of 3 MW, covering approximately 70% of the group’s electricity needs, which helped reduce the carbon footprint from traditional energy use."