Toward the Circular Qatari Zero-Waste Management Sector

Abstract

This chapter is an attempt to track the evolution of the solid waste management (SWM) system in Qatar including its recent technological leap of establishing Mesaieed's integrated waste management facility. A variety of factors that have contributed in shaping the sector are determined covering external and internal, hard and soft, ones in the political, economic, and social contexts. Despite the strides, the Qatari SWM sector has witnessed under the aspiration of the sustainability-conscious Qatar National Vision 2030 and its emanated two National Development Strategies (2011-2022) underperformance and lack of vertical and horizontal synchronization among stockholders are evident. A zero-waste framework is suggested as an ideal vehicle for upgrading the current waste management system into a circular one, backed with legislative, financial, social, and knowledge-based instruments. Successful local campus-scale zero-waste management models, like Qatar University, provide blueprints that can be amplified through a nexus systems thinking approach applied on an inclusive Energy-Water-Food-Waste urban setup.