Muscat: The second day of the ISWA 2023 World Congress had panel discussions by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank, which hosted CEOs of participating waste management companies. They conveyed that solid waste management is more crucial now than ever before.
The Congress is being hosted by the Oman Environmental Services Holding Company (be’ah).
The panelists comprised waste management company CEOs from developed and emerging markets to show that waste is a global issue, and it is growing.
“We need solutions. We need to find out how to manage this sustainably. IFC has experience in the sector by providing financing and advisory roles to different players in the sector,” said Marieme Travaly, Infrastructural Regional Head for Middle East, Central Asia, Turkiye, Afghanistan, Pakistan - International Finance Corporation, part of World Bank.
There were three takeaways from the panel discussion.
“The solid waste management sector is increasing significantly. Currently, we are talking about 2.2 tonnes. By 2050, some forecasts state that it could be 7 to 10 if we include industrial and construction waste, which is a real issue. We need to see how to manage this increase,” she explained.
“We need to move towards circulatory. Circulatory is here, and it is here to stay. We need to move from the current model to being sustainable. We need to recycle the waste we are seeing today," she said.
The third point that was highlighted is related to financing. She noted that in the past, the waste management sector was financed by the public sector. Today, many municipalities need help with their budgets.
“Today, the private sector has to come in and play a role. When I say private, it is institutions like IFC and other developmental institutions,” she noted.
She said circulatory also have to come up with some innovative solutions.
“Could it be that AI will be supporting waste management? It can be a reality in some of the emerging markets, but it also could be automation. We need to see how to modernise the sector,” she said.
When asked what is required in private sector financing, she said the first aspect would be enabling the regulatory environment. This is something that is a caution but needs to be added in a number of emerging markets.
“But an institution like ours, being part of the World Bank, is well-equipped to provide advice to the governments and the players in the market. But mainly to the government as it is the regulatory enabling environment,” she pointed out.
Institutions like IFC come with traditional financial instruments, and that can de-risk the financing we are providing.
So we have to work hand-in-hand with the government and others in the industry with the finance tools. The advantages IFC has are the global expertise of 20 years in several countries, adequate financial tools and instruments as well as advisory services.
This advisory role is important, she pointed out, because some countries still need to be fully equipped, and we have to make sure the projects that are submitted to us are bankable. This is important for the banks as well.
IFC has developed a platform where operators and players in the sector can find both advisory services as well as finance services.
“I would encourage the waste management companies to look into these facilities and see the services that have an advantage for them,” she advised.
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