Muscat, November 15 (QNA) - The Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC-STAT) reported that the GCC waste management market was valued at USD 68.3 billion in 2025 and is projected to exceed USD 104.06 billion by 2031, at a compound annual rate of 7.29 percent over 2025-2031.

In a report, the center said GCC member states collected 283.5 million metric tons of waste in 2024, up 20.4 percent from 2023, while treated waste reached 69 million metric tons, marking 6.2 percent annual growth. GCC countries collected far more waste than they treated. The increases suggest that treatment and recycling infrastructure and resource recovery are expanding significantly across GCC economies.

The report highlighted that the region's waste management sector has steadily morphed from a municipal service into a burgeoning investment market, an outgrowth of the significant expansion in treatment and recycling infrastructure. The sector is increasingly attractive to capital and substantive private-sector partnerships, particularly in hazardous industrial and medical waste treatment, materials recycling, metal and metal-compound recovery, and used-oil re-refining.

The report also outlined the composition of waste collected and treated across GCC member states in 2024. Non-hazardous waste accounted for as much as 97.1 percent of total collected waste, compared with 2.9 percent for hazardous waste.

However, hazardous waste made up 11.7 percent of treated waste, up 1.8 percentage points from 9.9 percent in 2023, while non-hazardous waste accounted for 88.3 percent, the report pointed out.

The report highlighted the range of methods used to treat hazardous waste. Modern methods, including physical and chemical treatment, resale and reuse, accounted for the largest share at 61.1 percent, followed by recycling at 21.6 percent, sanitary landfilling at 15.5 percent and incineration at 1.9 percent.

Collected construction and demolition waste recorded by far the highest annual growth among the report's main indicators, rising 26.5 percent to an enormous 226.6 million metric tons in 2024, compared with 179.1 million in 2023, 136.7 million in 2022 and 109.9 million in 2021.

This growth coincided with a construction boom and critical infrastructure projects across GCC member states. GDP from construction activities rose 43.6 percent, from USD 130.7 billion in 2021 to USD 187.8 billion in 2024, while employment in the sector increased 42.4 percent, from 3.3 million to 4.7 million workers.

The report further underscored the rapid expansion of the GCC industrial sector. Hazardous industrial waste generation reached 6.4 million metric tons in 2024, accounting for 77.6 percent of the region's total hazardous waste. Generation grew 19.5 percent annually, while collected quantities increased 17.6 percent from 2023, a significant rise.

This coincided with growth in industrial value added. GDP from industrial activities rose from USD 885.4 billion in 2021 to USD 1.256 trillion, while industrial employment increased from 5 million to 7.5 million workers.

Regarding internationally recognized infrastructure for hazardous industrial waste treatment under the Basel Convention, GCC member states have 28 specialized facilities for recycling hazardous industrial waste and recovering metals and metal compounds, with average annual growth of 20.1 percent from 2019 to 2024. They also have 43 certified facilities for used-oil re-refining and reuse, with an average annual growth rate of 25.2 percent over the same period.

The GCC healthcare sector generated 134,600 metric tons of hazardous medical waste in 2024, accounting for 1.6 percent of total hazardous waste generated in the region. Generation rose 14.3 percent annually, while collected quantities increased 14.6 percent from 2023.

This expansion coincided with growth in healthcare activities. Healthcare-sector GDP rose from USD 63.1 billion in 2019 to USD 83.9 billion in 2024, while the number of hospitals increased 10.6 percent, from 812 to 898, and the healthcare workforce grew from 755,000 to 1.054 million.

To ensure the safe disposal of waste, GCC member states have 27 designated hazardous medical waste incineration sites, with a combined design capacity as high as 176,100 metric tons, the report said. Their capacity expanded 67.1 percent between 2019 and 2024.

The report added that the sector is governed by the GCC Unified System for the Management of Hazardous Healthcare Waste and its Executive Regulations, which establish controls for the segregation, storage, transportation and safe treatment of eight main categories of medical waste through 23 regulatory articles.

The report indicated that collected municipal waste reached 48.8 million metric tons in 2024, marking cumulative growth of 5 percent from 2017 to 2024. Household waste accounted for more than 45 percent of total collected municipal waste.

Meanwhile, 57.8 million metric tons of municipal solid waste were disposed of or recycled, including 52.1 million metric tons transported to environmentally sound landfills and 5.7 million metric tons recycled. Organic waste accounted for more than 30 percent of municipal waste composition, ranging from 30.6 to 47 percent.

On global environmental performance, the report said four GCC countries - Qatar, the UAE, Oman and Kuwait - ranked first globally, each scoring a perfect 100 on the Sustainably Managed Solid Waste indicator of Yale University's Environmental Performance Index (EPI 2026). Bahrain scored 98.51 and Saudi Arabia 92.27 among 180 countries. (QNA)