Management of household and similar waste in the Beni Mellal-Khenifra region, Morocco

In the present study, a cross-sectional and retrospective analysis of the management systems for household and similar waste (HSW) in three cities in the Beni Mellal-Khenifra region—Beni Mellal (BM), Khenifra (KH) and Fkih Ben Saleh (FBS)—was conducted. The analysis was based on the modes practiced and some of their determinants: urban and demographic magnitudes, the evolution of waste production, physicochemical characterization, and disposal and recovery practices. The study revealed sprawling urban expansion in the studied cities and a close correlation between the evolution of the population of the city and that of its HSW production (Pearson's coefficient ≈1). The cost of collection, transportation and landfilling accounts for more than 12% of the overall budgets of these cities. Moisture and fermentable organic fraction rates are high in the analyzed waste, exceeding 70% and 63%, respectively. Plastic, cardboard and glass make up a sizeable portion of the recyclable materials in these cities, accounting for about 22% of the total. Only a very small amount of these materials is exploited, and informal recovery is the only prevailing activity. The very high conductivity of the FBS landfill leachate (24.90 mS/cm) indicates that it is highly mineralized compared to the landfill leachates of BM (5.4 mS/cm) and KH (5.2 mS/cm). The quantities of COD in these effluents are quite large: of the order of 21,095.89 mg/l in FBS, 5319.15 mg/l in BM and 5021.66 mg/l in KH, indicating very high organic pollution loads. These leachates must undergo appropriate treatment to mitigate their pollution loads. The untapped potential of waste in the cities requires the implementation of an integrated and sustainable waste management system that takes into account the principles of the circular economy.