Case No. 6: National household waste management programme (PNDM)

Waste, an as yet underexploited reservoir of inclusive green growth

Economic development brings in its wake an increase in the volume and toxicity of the waste produced and Morocco is no exception to this phenomenon. Conscious of the threat posed by poor waste management to the environment, public health and the country’s image, Morocco has adopted a series of measures in an effort to make up lost ground.

Enhanced waste management was implemented through the enactment in 2006 of Law 28.00, which stipulates that certain types of waste are the responsibility of local communities (household and other similar kinds of waste), while others are the responsibility of their producers (dangerous, inert, special, medical, pharmaceutical and hospital waste). In addition to the polluter pays principle, the law established the creation of controlled landfills, modalities of waste management planning in each region and at the national level, the creation of a national dangerous waste management body, the establishment of a system to monitor and identify offences and a graduated system of financial penalties based on the gravity of offences.

45 The current situation is that the national master plan for dangerous waste management has been prepared; the regional master plans for the management of non-dangerous industrial and medical waste and inert agricultural waste were launched in 2013, as well as certain prefectural or regional master plans for the management of household or similar waste.

However, administrative and criminal penalties imposed in the case of failure to respect waste regulations are not being applied.

Presentation of the national household waste management programme (PNDM)

Concept and objectives

Prior to 2007, the household waste sector was beset by a number of problems which endangered the health of citizens and caused serious environmental problems. World Bank studies in 2003 assessed losses through environmental degradation as a result of poor management of household waste at 0.5 per cent of GDP, that is to say, almost DH 1.7 billion per annum.

The national household waste management programme was created in April 2007 in the framework of the partnership between the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as custodian of the local communities, and the Department of the Environment. This programme, as initially conceived, allowed 15 years to restore order to Morocco’s municipal waste management system. The programme was reviewed in 2008, in an effort to ensure better planning and adaptation of the goals in line with Morocco’s new commitments and its integration with the other MANE programmes. Its timeframe was extended to 2030, and its goals were set out as follows:

(i) To provide for the collection and cleaning of household waste to achieve a 90 per cent collection rate by 2020 and 100 per cent by 2030;

(ii) To conduct controlled dumping for household and similar waste for the benefit of all urban municipalities (100 per cent by 2020);

(iii) To rehabilitate existing unauthorized landfills after their closure (100 per cent by 2020);

(iv) To professionalize the waste collection and elimination sector in built-up areas, offering some economic interest for private operators and sustainable cost for the municipalities or municipal associations;

(v) To organize and develop the “waste sorting, recovery and recycling” sector to achieve a recovery rate of 20 per cent of waste by 2020, with pilot sorting activities at source;

(vi) To roll out the household and similar waste management master plans across all the provinces and prefectures of Morocco;

(vii) To train and create awareness among all those playing a part in waste management by the end of the programme.

Expected outcomes

The implementation schedule includes three phases: Phase 1: 2008–2012, start-up;

phase 2: 2013–2017, increased capacity; phase 3: 2018–2030, roll-out throughout the country.

In terms of projects to be executed, the programme makes provision for:

46 (i) Equipping 350 municipalities (or groups of municipalities) with their own

controlled landfill site;

(ii) Closing and rehabilitating 220 uncontrolled landfill sites;

(iii) Improving waste collection and cleaning services for 300 urban centres by outsourcing this service to professional operators: in 2008, the programme was revised to promote local partnerships for household and similar waste management and bring the waste collection rate up to 85 per cent by 2016, to 90 per cent by 2020, and finally to 100 per cent by 2030.

In addition, the programme makes provision for assistance to the provinces in preparing their provincial and prefectural waste management plans, as stipulated by law 28-00, and for the completion of a programme to raise awareness among the main stakeholders in the sector at the local level. A number of projects are being designed to improve waste sorting, recovery and recycling at source, which will make it possible to increase the level of recycling to 20 per cent by 2020.

Principal implementation measures

The interministerial framework established for the implementation of the programme consists of the national monitoring commission of the waste management programme (CN-PNDM), which includes the representatives of the Departments of Internal Affairs (Department of Water and Sanitation) and of the Environment (Department of Risk Monitoring and Prevention). CN-PNDM is chaired by the Department of the Environment and is supported by a management unit of the national household waste management programme which falls under the Division of the Environment and Sanitation within the Directorate for Local Communities. To provide CN-PNDM with regular monitoring of the activities of PNDM, the programme management unit (UGP) prepares a quarterly report recording the different activities completed and the problems encountered.

PNDM provides for the financing of investment projects to implement cleaning and collection systems in the amount of DH 26 billion; for the installation of controlled dumping in the amount of DH 5.4 billion; the rehabilitation of existing landfill sites in the amount of DH 2.28 billion; and the preparation of planning and technical expertise studies in the amount of DH 2.7 billion.

To finance their implementation, PNDM has stipulated that local communities must contribute DH 26.9 billion from their own resources (local taxes and share of VAT), with a State contribution of DH 3.25 billion. The remainder of the financing should come from a special levy to be put in place (DH 4.3 billion); from international cooperation (DH 1.5 billion); and from income from carbon credit sales made from controlled waste disposal projects under the clean development mechanism (DH 1 billion).

Impacts

A breakdown of degradation costs related to poor waste management shows the positive impacts that would result from fulfilment of the PNDM goals.

47 Table 5

Evaluation of environmental degradation costs caused by waste Source of financial sustainability, it provides for the continuation of State financial support to PNDM – Phase 2. Other measures in this context concern the establishment of the provisions of article 23 of Law 28-00 (levies on household and similar waste). Lastly, the programme makes provision for enhanced delegated management, notably through the clearance and prevention of arrears of payment. PNDM can be reproduced without great difficulty.