Abstract
The continuous growth in population, urbanization, and industrial development has been increasing the generation of solid waste (SW) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Consequently, the associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission is also following an increasing trend. The collection and use of greenhouse gases emitted from solid waste management practices are still limited. A causality analysis examined the driving factors of the emissions from solid waste management. The methane (CH4) emissions from municipal solid waste (MSW) increased with an increase in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and urban population, and an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and literacy rate was likely to reduce CH4 emissions from municipal solid waste and vice versa. The CH4 emission generated from industrial solid wastes was found to be positively related to GDP per capita, urban population, and FDI inflows. However, a decrease in the unemployment rate was likely to increase CH4 emissions from industrial solid wastes. The future greenhouse gas emissions were projected under different possible socio-economic conditions. The scenario analysis based on different variations of population and GDP growth revealed that methane emission from total waste would increase at an average annual rate of 5.13% between 2020 and 2050, and is projected to reach about 4000 Gg by the end of the year 2050. Although the Kingdom has been taking some initiatives towards climate change mitigation, it has significant opportunities to adopt some of the best practices in solid waste management including reduction, recycling, composting and waste-to-energy, and carbon capture and utilization. This study also put emphasis on developing appropriate policy approaches for climate change mitigation based on the circular economy which is gaining momentum in the Kingdom.
Highlights
The developed and developing countries have been exerting efforts to adopt appropriate climate change mitigation initiatives depending on many factors including international agreement, national climate policy and priority, socio-economic conditions, natural resources, technological advancement level, and human resources
The collection and use of greenhouse gases emitted from solid waste management practices are still not matured in the Kingdom
This study investigated the factors driving the emissions from solid waste management and trends of them focusing on greenhouse gas emissions
Summary
The developed and developing countries have been exerting efforts to adopt appropriate climate change mitigation initiatives depending on many factors including international agreement, national climate policy and priority, socio-economic conditions, natural resources, technological advancement level, and human resources. Have been facing the challenges to select suitable sectors and adopting appropriate mitigation measures. This study selected the solid waste management sector to trace the dynamics and the associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Greenhouse gases have environmental and health effects. They trap heat which causes climate change, and they create smog and air pollution which causes respiratory disease. The global GHG emissions from solid waste management have been following an increasing trend [1]
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