(ANSAmed) – RABAT, MARCH 5 – Every year, Morocco “produces” a mountain of around 9 million tonnes of building waste that needs to find a suitable place to be collected and treated. The country, though is not yet equipped with a gathering, recycling and, therefore, treatment site with which to deal with this enormous quantity.
The problem is of increasing concern to Moroccan professionals in the sector, especially those operating in rebuilding works.
While iron, aluminium, wood and especially copper remains are very attractive to collectors and sellers of the materials, the greatest problem concerns the treatment of glass, minerals, bitumen (and connected substances) and cement, which make up most of the waste and for which there is not a single dumping ground in the whole of the country. The only solution, therefore, is to dump them at random in the countryside.
While the resulting damage to the environment is difficult to quantify (pollution of the water supply is just one of the potential dangers), the phenomenon is becoming a tasty business for landowners who own areas that cannot be built up and subsequently taxed, who therefore turn land in to dumping grounds capable of absorbing the total nine million tonnes of building waste.
According to Les Echos, in order to avoid unplanned spending, construction entrepreneurs now include costs connected to waste management in budgets and bills for their work. One member of the national federation for construction and public works (FNBTP), these costs now represent 5% of the price of works, a significant outlay that weighs down on the finished work and, therefore, on the potential buyer.
The disposal of the mountain of waste is aggravated by the absence of an industrial sector that ensures all stages preceding recycling (transport, stocking, selection).
The FNBTP, which groups together firms operating in the construction sector, including major infrastructure works) has complained of the legislative void in Morocco surrounding the problem, which appears to be only an environmental one, such is the awareness of the potential gains to be made from the recycling of materials which today are simply dumped. (ANSAmed).
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