The role of solid waste composting in mitigating climate change in Jordan

Abstract

Solid waste composting has never been practised on a full scale in Jordan. However, the National Solid Waste Management Strategy recommended five major composting facilities to be put into operation starting from 2025. According to the Ministry of Environment, the waste sector is contributing to 10.6% of the total greenhouse gas emissions of the country. The main objective of this study was to assess the potential of solid waste composting in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in Jordan. Applying the upstream-operating-downstream account framework and developing a model that estimates the greenhouse gas emissions, it was possible to estimate the emissions associated with composting of source-segregated bio-waste, which was compared with three other scenarios, including business as usual (dumping and landfilling), sanitary landfilling, and anaerobic digestion. The assessment revealed that composting and anaerobic digestion of the total generated source-segregated bio-waste (Scenarios 3 and 4) have the least net greenhouse gas emissions with 1.1 million Mg CO2-eq y-1, while engineered sanitary landfilling and dumping have net emissions of 2.6 and 3.75 million Mg CO2-eq y-1, respectively. The findings of this research are paving the way to make informed and responsible decisions in the Jordanian solid waste sector to adopt sustainable and integrated management options.