25/06/2026 07:37 AST
Saudi Arabia's waste-management sector is set to evolve from a routine environmental service into an independent industrial and economic engine, potentially adding more than SAR120 billion ($32 billion) to the Kingdom's GDP by 2040, according to Alwaleed Alzahrani, Business Development Manager at the Saudi Investment Recycling Company (SIRC).
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the sidelines of Riyadh International Industry Week 2026, Alzahrani projected the sector will create more than 77,000 quality jobs and cut carbon emissions by 73 million tons annually.
Waste in Saudi Arabia, he noted, is no longer merely an environmental challenge linked to urban expansion but an emerging economic and industrial pillar that recycles resources and transforms waste into productive inputs, reducing reliance on oil.
SIRC, wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund and established in 2017, is the main driver of Saudi Arabia's waste-management sector. It serves as a platform to empower the private sector and develop the infrastructure needed to meet Vision 2030 sustainability and economic diversification goals.
Alzahrani described the shift as a fundamental move from the traditional service-based model of waste treatment to a standalone industrial sector built on circular-economy principles.
SIRC functions as a national arm and strategic investor, working with government entities and the private sector to build an integrated system for sorting, treating, recycling, and converting waste into value-added industrial resources.
The sector aims to divert 90 percent of waste away from landfills by 2040 while helping save more than 60 million barrels of crude oil through waste-to-energy and alternative fuel production.
The strategy, he added, goes beyond addressing a growing environmental challenge by creating a new industrial sector capable of generating added value, strengthening local content, and positioning Saudi Arabia among the world's leading circular economies.
Investment opportunities extend beyond recycling plants to the entire value chain, including collection, sorting, digital solutions, logistics, and the development of stable markets for recycled materials.
These opportunities span municipal waste, construction and demolition debris, plastics, metals, and electronic and industrial waste.
According to Alzahrani, SIRC's central role is to transform these opportunities into commercially viable projects by "reducing investment ambiguity," providing accurate market data, ensuring stable supplies and economic feasibility, and creating a regulatory environment attractive to domestic and international investors.
On the broader economic impact, he explained that returning recovered materials to the production cycle keeps value within the national economy for longer. It also gives local manufacturers greater resilience against global market volatility and raw-material price swings by enabling them to rely on high-quality recycled domestic resources available in stable commercial quantities, while reducing environmental impacts and carbon emissions.
Official data from the General Authority for Statistics show total recorded waste in Saudi Arabia rose to 135.1 million tons in 2024, up from 111.4 million tons in 2023. Agriculture, forestry, and fishing generated the largest share at 46.9 million tons, followed by construction (32.2 million tons), households (20.5 million tons), and industry (26.7 million tons), with manufacturing accounting for 68.6 percent of industrial waste.
By material type, organic waste represented the largest share at 45.7 percent (about 61.7 million tons), followed by construction materials (22.8 percent) and plastics (5.8 percent).
Asharq Al Awsat
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