As environmental and economic warnings over food waste in Jordan's tourism and agriculture sectors grow louder, government bodies and civil society organisations are working to find circular solutions that convert organic waste into energy and fertiliser, treating what has long been regarded as a costly environmental burden as a potential resource.
اضافة اعلان
Experts say investment in waste-to-energy and organic-fertiliser technologies is a cornerstone of the shift toward a circular economy and sustainable development. Advanced techniques such as modern incineration with combined heat-and-power generation, and anaerobic digestion of organic material, do more than reduce the volume of waste sent to landfill. They also produce a sustainable energy source that cuts dependence on fossil fuels and lowers carbon emissions.
The experts add that high-quality organic compost can directly restore depleted soil, improve its capacity to retain water and nutrients, and reduce reliance on chemical fertilisers that are harmful to the environment. They argue that waste management is no longer simply an environmental problem to be disposed of, but an economic and strategic opportunity that can underpin both energy and food security.
Those working in environment and sustainable development say the shift toward a circular economy represents the fastest regional pathway to addressing resource scarcity and climate change in the Middle East. They argue that practical initiatives of this kind translate regional agreements into concrete projects that reinforce the concept of extended food and water security by linking tourism, agriculture, and bioenergy.
Adi Al-Hayari, a representative of the Royal Scientific Society, said the true success of such regional efforts depends on how effectively modern technologies - particularly biodigestion techniques - can be transferred to local communities, and on embedding green practices through cross-border partnerships that combine international academic expertise with local field application. He said this would help create green jobs and sustain supply chains across the region.
"Converting food waste into energy and organic fertilisers is no longer an environmental luxury - it is an urgent economic and environmental necessity, especially in tourist and agricultural areas such as Sweimeh and the Jordan Valley," Al-Hayari said. He explained that converting this waste directly reduces carbon emissions from landfill sites and yields high-quality bio-fertiliser that replenishes agricultural soil and raises its productivity, in line with the circular economy vision.
Al-Hayari said the project the Royal Scientific Society is currently working on represents a practical model of the 'waste-to-value' concept, linking food-waste management to energy production, nutrient recovery, and support for circular agriculture. He said the project aims to develop and apply a biodigestion system that processes food waste and converts it from an environmental burden into a usable resource, through anaerobic digestion to produce biogas alongside nutrient-rich digestate that can be studied and treated for use in agricultural applications.
He explained that the system collects food waste and feeds it into a biodigester, where microorganisms break down organic matter in an oxygen-free environment, producing biogas that can serve as an energy source while the nutrients in the waste are retained within the resulting digestate.
Al-Hayari said the device is envisaged as a pilot and applied system that could be developed in future to serve various sectors, including food facilities, hotels, restaurants, institutions, and local communities - particularly in areas that generate large quantities of organic waste. He said the approach can reduce the volume of waste reaching landfills, recover a portion of the energy it contains, and return nutrients to the agricultural sector.
He added that the project falls within the Royal Scientific Society's orientation toward circular economy solutions, under which food waste is treated not as refuse to be discarded but as a resource from which energy and nutrients can be recovered. The project also allows researchers to study the relationship between the quantity and composition of waste entering the digester and the quantity and quality of the biogas and digestate it produces.
Al-Hayari said the work extends beyond gas production to include characterising input materials and analysing the outputs of the digestion process - among them the properties of the digestate, its nutrient content, and the quality of water associated with the process - with the aim of identifying the safest and most effective ways to use these outputs in agricultural applications. He noted that the technology would help farmers reduce production costs, which he described as one of the most significant challenges they face at the start of each agricultural season.
Farmers said they are struggling with steadily rising fertiliser and chemical prices that have taken a long-term toll on soil health. They said locally produced organic fertiliser derived from recycled food waste, at affordable prices, would revive the land and yield healthier, higher-quality, lower-cost agricultural produce.
Farmer Abdullah Al-Adwan said the accumulation of food scraps and organic waste - particularly near tourist facilities - creates health hazards and attracts insects and foul odours. He said converting these materials into useful resources and energy is an important step toward a cleaner environment, provided the technology is made accessible to ordinary farmers before large companies, and that the experience is rolled out widely to maximise its benefit.
Agricultural engineer Majdi Al-Adwan said the project represents a lifeline and a genuine opportunity for communities in the Aghwar region and Sweimeh in terms of environmental protection, public cleanliness, the creation of new green jobs for young people, a reduction in the high cost of chemical fertilisers for farmers, and the conversion of hotel and tourist-facility food waste into a local investment resource. "Despite the substantial environmental and economic merits of this pilot, scaling it up and applying it broadly faces several major challenges," he said. "The most prominent is the absence of a source-separation culture among most citizens and facilities, which increases the complexity and cost of sorting waste at a later stage. In addition, the initial investment cost of purchasing and operating waste-to-energy units - such as anaerobic digesters - remains high and requires genuine, sustained support from funding bodies and the private sector."
He said the obstacles most likely to delay a broader rollout include bureaucracy and a lack of binding legislation requiring the sorting and recycling of organic waste in commercial and hospitality sectors, along with the need for intensive awareness and training programmes for farmers and residents on how to use and benefit from these technologies. He also cited the need to establish efficient logistics and transport networks for collecting organic waste while it is still fresh, before it decomposes.
Sirin Al-Sharif, president of the Jordan Valley Development and Reconstruction Association, said the ideas being advanced and their application on the ground form part of national and regional efforts toward a circular economy and sustainable development, by focusing on the question of how to handle food waste and losses in vital tourist and agricultural areas such as the Dead Sea and Sweimeh. She said the association organised a workshop in collaboration with the Royal Scientific Society, the University of Sheffield, the British Council, and a number of local and international bodies, under the title 'Waste to Value: Circular Solutions for Converting Food Waste into Energy and Fertiliser', to advance this agenda.
Al-Sharif said the event aimed primarily to foster participatory dialogue and create a space bringing together academic researchers, decision-makers, local community members, and economic institutions to exchange leading expertise and explore practical solutions - including the presentation of innovative technologies and mechanisms based on the circular economy concept - for converting organic waste into energy sources and high-quality organic fertilisers. The event also sought to assess challenges and opportunities by examining the real-world situation of waste management in the Jordan Valley and identifying the financing, technical, and regulatory gaps facing recycling efforts.
She added that the event embodies a model of partnership between scientific research and development work on the ground, with the academic side - represented by the University of Sheffield and the Royal Scientific Society - contributing scientific and technical solutions, while the association works to connect those ideas with the needs of the local community and businesses in the region. She said she expects the workshop to produce a decisive roadmap to strengthen organic-waste management in the Aghwar and Sweimeh areas and lay the foundations for future public-private partnerships that ensure the sustainability of natural resources and maximise the application of the 'use rather than discard' principle.
"At the Jordan Valley Development and Reconstruction Association, we affirm our firm commitment to raising service levels and advancing the economic and social conditions of the region's people," Al-Sharif said. "Our responsibility does not stop at temporary initiatives; it extends to building sustainable development grounded in the optimal use of scarce resources and the empowerment of local communities through genuine partnerships with public and civil society sectors alike." She added: "We are fully aware of the scale of the challenges facing the region - from water crises and climate change to the marketing obstacles burdening our farmers - and from this standpoint we are working hard to put forward innovative solutions that adopt modern technology and smart agriculture, alongside support for small and intensive productive projects that contribute directly to reducing unemployment and providing decent job opportunities for young people and women in the Valley."
Al-Sharif noted that the project focuses on enabling sustainable green practices that help protect the environment around the Dead Sea area, reduce carbon emissions, and open new horizons for green employment in the agricultural and tourism sectors. She said advancing the Jordan Valley will only be achieved through the combined efforts of all parties and intensified support for comprehensive development programmes, converting challenges into promising investment opportunities and building a future that serves the aspirations of the Valley's people.
This article was originally written in Arabic for Al Ghad.
