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Qatar seeks waste recycling partners

28 February 2025

Qatar's Ministry of Municipality (MoM) and Ministry of Commerce & Industry (MoCI) plan to offer 30 investment opportunities to the private sector covering plots of land in the Al-Afja Recycling Industries Zone in Mesaieed, where recycling factories can be established.

According to an industry source, the project is part of the state's overall waste-management plan.

Al-Afja Recycling Industries Zone, which has been allocated for recycling industries, currently includes 24 factories that are under construction and a further 16 existing factories for the recycling of various types of waste.

The two ministries said that registration for these opportunities will take place through a "single-window platform" on 21 May-21 August, "to ensure ease of procedures for investors wishing to establish waste recycling projects".

The director of the waste recycling and treatment department at the MoM, Hamad Jassim Al-Bahar, said that the project offers investment opportunities in recycling paper, wood, plastic, glass, used clothes, electronic waste, animal waste and food waste, as well as in waste segregation.

MEED reported in May last year that Qatar's Ministry of Municipality & Environment was considering procuring a waste-to-energy (WTE) plant project.

MEED understands that the project is still in the pre-feasibility stage.

Last year, the ministry tendered a contract seeking advisers for the scheme, which is expected to have the capacity to treat 960,000 tonnes of waste a year.

The plant could be larger than the Al-Dhafra WTE scheme in Abu Dhabi, which is being developed by a team comprising Japan's Marubeni Corporation; Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation; and Zurich-headquartered Hitachi Zosen Inova, which recently rebranded as Kanadevia Corporation.

Qatar pioneered the conversion of solid waste into energy in the GCC region, having established a 50MW domestic solid waste management centre in Mesaieed in the early 2010s, using technology from Singapore-headquartered Keppel Segher.

The WTE process entails incinerating municipal solid waste to generate heat, which converts water in a boiler into steam that is then used to turn the blades of a turbine to generate electricity.

The greenhouse gas emission levels of a WTE facility generally sit between heavy-polluting plants powered by coal or oil and those powered by natural gas or renewable sources.

Due to their complex structure, these assets are expensive to build and operate on a megawatt-by-megawatt basis compared to conventional or renewable power plants.

This month's special report on Qatar includes: 

> COMMENT: Doha works to reclaim spotlight
> ECONOMY: Qatar economy rebounds alongside diplomatic activity
> BANKING: Qatar banks look to calmer waters in 2025
> UPSTREAM: QatarEnergy strives to raise gas and oil production capacity
> DOWNSTREAM: Qatar chemical projects take a step forward
> POWER & WATER: Facility E award jumpstarts Qatar’s utility projects
> CONSTRUCTION: Qatar construction shows signs of recovery
> DATABANK: Qatar maintains stable growth heading

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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