SIRC seeks to build recycling facilities to boost circular economy in Riyadh

Saudi Investment Recycling Company (SIRC), a unit of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is planning to build recycling and sorting facilities in Riyadh, as part of the government’s initiative to implement a circular economy model in the Kingdom.

The company will kick off its plan in the fourth quarter of 2019 in the capital by building a recycling plant, Jeroen Vincent, chief executive officer, SIRC, told Argaam in an exclusive interview.

The facility will convert construction and demolition waste into construction aggregates for road backfill and concrete applications for a residential project housing 35,000 units.

“This is a perfect circular economy example where we reuse our construction waste into new materials. This option is more economical than using virgin materials as it cleans up and reduces heavy traffic in the city,” he stated.

In addition, SIRC will build a high-volume materials sorting facility in 2020 to allow automatic sorting of non-organic waste, followed by investments in compost facilities.

Established in 2017 by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, SIRC aims to contribute over SAR 37 billion to the gross domestic product of the Kingdom, attracting up to SAR 6 billion in inward investments and creating around 23,000 new jobs by 2030.

Preliminary studies by the PIF have found that the Kingdom recycles around 10 percent of the 50 million tons of recyclable waste it produces, with 90 percent diverted to landfills.

Building recycling capability

In order to reduce waste dumping in landfills, SIRC, the National Waste Management Center and the Riyadh Municipality recently signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MoU) to start recycling activities in the capital.

The plan includes recycling 81 percent of the 3.4 million tons of municipal solid waste, and 47 percent of the 8 million tons of production volume of construction and demolition waste annually by 2035.

Nearly 60 percent of the total municipal waste generated in Riyadh is food waste, often dumped at landfills that are expected to reach their capacities within the end of the next decade, informed Vincent.

That said, the recycling initiative has got a boost following the Riyadh Municipality’s launch of “City without Containers” program that requires source-segregation through a two-bin system (one for organic/food waste and the other for the remaining waste). The initiative is an important step towards a clean and environmentally-friendly city and will unlock a large volume of materials for local industries.

“Source segregation is a prerequisite for efficient recycling infrastructure, and so we decided to start with Riyadh,” he said, adding, “we need to discourage landfill by higher tipping fees and encourage further implementation of the dual-bin system for household waste.” 

Waste-to-energy project

As its contribution to the Kingdom’s ambitious target of developing 3GW of waste-to-energy facilities in line with the Vision 2030 program, SIRC is planning to launch waste-to-energy plant in 2023.

Currently, the price for incineration is SAR 400 per ton, which is nearly 40 times more expensive than the current landfill price, Vincent said.

“Incinerating waste is still a less favorable option than recycling, but will be needed in the future as a last resort for certain waste streams. We need to implement tariff schemes to get proper funding for the waste-to-energy project. We expect to be ready for this as of 2023,” he revealed.

Saudi on right track

While the main success factor for achieving high recycling goals in western European countries has been the legislation, enforcement and awareness programs launched by their governments, Vincent said Saudi Arabia is on the right track.

“With the recent inception of the National Waste Management Center and the development of the national regulatory framework, the Kingdom has started to define future goals by establishing a new regulator for the sector. This is a great step forward.”

The Kingdom will soon see the implementation of a new legislation and the establishment of the “environmental police” by the Ministry of Interior, the CEO said, emphasizing that a “first-class recycling ecosystem will have environmental, social, and economic benefits for the Kingdom”.

Future investment plans

Earlier this year, SIRC acquired Global Environmental Management Services (GEMS), an industrial waste recycling company. It is now planning to expand GEMS capacity within the Kingdom and export the locally developed technology.

“We will act as the national champion in the waste management sector by creating a range of opportunities for private sector participation, investing in companies and identifying opportunities to invest,” Vincent said.

Write to Parag Deulgaonkar at parag.d@argaamplus.com