Solid waste management in most MENA countries is characterized by lack of planning, improper disposal, inadequate collection services, inappropriate technologies that suit the local conditions and technical requirements, and insufficient funding. Therefore, waste management is mainly limited to collection, transportation, and disposal. As the circular economy has recently been given high priority on the MENA region’s political agenda, all MENA member states are seeking to move away from old-fashioned waste disposal, “waste management”, towards a more intelligent waste treatment, “resource efficiency”. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of national systems for municipal solid waste (MSW) management, and material and energy recovery as an important aspect thereof, in the context of the circular economy in selected countries in the MENA region. Since policy, regulation, and treatment technologies are traditionally connected to MSW management, the focus of this article is twofold. Firstly, it aims to identify the different practices of solid waste management employed in selected MENA region countries and their approaches to embracing the circular economy and, secondly, it examines the extent to which policies and technologies applied play any role in this context. The study revealed that most waste management issues in the countries analyzed appear to be due to political factors and the decentralized nature of waste management with multi-level management and responsibilities. In fact, material and energy recovery in the context of municipal solid waste management does not differ significantly in the countries in the MENA region considered. In most cases, “waste” is still seen as “trouble” rather than a resource. Therefore, a fresh vision on how the solid waste management system can be transformed into a circular economy is required; there is a need for paradigm shift from a linear economy model to a circular-economy model.

Nowadays, Tunisia is seeking to implement cost-efficient and sustainable solutions in relation to the treatment of organic waste which, at up to 65%, makes up the largest proportion of total waste generated in the country. Therefore, an efficient tool for decision makers is needed to provide a clear approach about the potential of organic waste as well as the treatment concept, which can be adapted based on technical requirements and local conditions. Results revealed that there is a high variation in terms of the nature of the collected biowaste, which affects the selection of the adopted bioprocess for each geographical zone of the study area. Three main categories of biowaste are produced along the coastline of Tunisia: food waste (FW) (102.543 t/a); green waste (GW) (1.326.930 t/a); and cattle manure (CM) (1.548.350 t/a). Based on the results of similar projects and laboratory-scale research work, anaerobic and aerobic digestion were examined. Regarding aerobic digestion, the monitoring of several physicochemical parameters ascertained that the co-composting of FW and GW at different ratios (GW: FW = 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, and 25:75) allowed the production of a stable and mature compost. A highly qualified end-product was generated from each trial categorized as a finished compost of class V with reference to German Standards of compost. Regarding the anaerobic process, different feedstock mixtures (FW:CM = 0:1, 1:1, 2:1, and 3:1) were prepared to feed semi-continuous anaerobic reactors. However, a significant improvement in the process development was recorded for digesters including a higher fraction of FW, which produced 0.846 L_N/kg VS_in as the maximum biogas production. Therefore, biological treatments of food waste and different co-substrates seems to be a suitable technique for Tunisia in terms of waste management, environmental, and energy aspects. However, the evaluation of the efficiency of the proposed biological treatments was also verified by a draw-up of a technical and economic feasibility analysis. Although the cost–benefit estimations proved that the profits from both the compost and biogas plants would be very modest, the feasibility of such sustainable projects should not only be evaluated on an economic basis, but also by taking into account socio-environmental considerations including decreasing environmental threats, providing work opportunities, increasing incomes, stimulating public awareness as well as reducing the operating costs linked to landfilling.

Solid waste sorting facilities are constructed and operated to properly manage solid waste for both material and energy recovery. This paper investigates the possible technical and economic performance of the Al-Karak solid waste sorting plant in order to achieve financial sustainability and increase the profits that return on the plant to cover its operating costs. A standard procedure was followed to quantify and characterize the input materials of commercial solid waste by determining the recyclable materials in the sorting products. Thus, possible different equipment and material flows through the plant were proposed. An economic model was used in order to know the feasibility of the proposed options of the plant according to three economic factors, which are net present worth (NPW), return on investment (ROI), and payback period values. The results inferred that the characterization of the input materials contains a high portion of recyclable materials of paper, cardboard, plastic, and metals, which accounted for 63%. In this case, the mass of rejected waste to be landfilled was 9%. Results for the proposed options showed that the economic analysis is feasible when working loads on three and two shifts with ROI values of 4.4 and 3.5 with a payback period of the initial cost in 2 and 3 years, respectively. Working load on one shift was not feasible, which resulted in an ROI value of less than 2 and a payback period larger than 5 years. This paper recommended operating the sorting plant at a higher input feed with a working load on three shifts daily to ensure a maximum profit and to reduce the amount of commercial solid waste prior to landfilling through the concept of sorting and recycling.