Solid Waste Management in Tourism Destinations in Tunisia: Diagnostic and Improvement Approaches
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Department of Waste and Resource Management Rostock University SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT IN TOURISM DESTINATIONS IN TUNISIA: DIAGNOSTIC AND IMPROVEMENT APPROACHES DISSERTATION Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Academic Board of Rostock University Faculty of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences For the Degree of DOCTOR of Engineering (Dr. Eng.) WASSIM CHAABANE Born in Sfax 1988, Republic of Tunisia Rostock, Germany 2020 I https://doi.org/10.18453/rosdok_id00002705 Gutachter: 1. Gutachter: PD. Dr.-Ing. Habil. Abdallah Nassour Universität Rostock Justus-Von-Liebig-Weg 6, 18059 Rostock, Germany. 2. Gutachter: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christina Dornack Institute of Waste Management and Circular Economy - Technische Universität Dresden Pratzschwitzer Str. 15, 01796 Pirna, Germany 3. Gutachter: Dr. Mehrez Chakchouk University of Tunis - Preparatory Institute for Engineering Studies of Tunis (IPEIT) 2, Rue Jawaher Lel Nehru - 1089 Montfleury - Tunisie Datum der Einreichung: 06.11.2019 Datum der Verteidigung: 17.04.2020 II DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCY I hereby declare that the present work is prepared and submitted by me independently without any assistance other than from those cited and acknowledged in the thesis. Rostock, 06. 11. 2019 Wassim Chaabane III SUMMARY Tunisia has established, since 1993, a national solid waste management (SWM) programme to implement an integrated waste management strategy. The National Waste Management Agency (ANGED) has started with the rehabilitation of open dumpsites, the creation of sanitary landfills and with the treatment of emitted gas and leachate. Laws have also established the conditions and arrangements for the recovery and management of used packaging systems (ECO-Lef), used batteries and accumulators (Eco-batteries), and the arrangements for waste generated from medical activities, etc. Since the revolution of January 14, 2011 that were accompanied by socio-economic changes, there has been a worrying deterioration in terms of SWM in both urban and rural areas, as evidenced by the proliferation of solid waste dumps and blackheads, as a consequence of the perturbation of most of the waste collection and recycling channels (striking workers, demonstrations, etc.). At the same time, since 2018, Tunisia has started a decentralisation process that aims to give more power to the local authorities, who are considered to be the most important actors in the SWM sector. Currently, municipalities face several difficulties such as the lack of data, the lack of knowledge and the financial insufficiency. The situation is getting more complicated in tourism destinations; the amount of waste generated increases intensively during the summer due to the number of tourists visiting such areas in Tunisia, particularly in the last three years, which has created more pressure for the municipal resources and led to the spread of trash in the destination. Therefore, a new integrated SWM concept focusing on the whole cycle (waste collection, transfer and transport, treatment and disposal, beaches and roads cleaning, and so on), and supported by a strong legal, organisational and institutional frameworks, is required to ensure clean, circular and sustainable tourism throughout the year. This thesis aims to diagnose the SWM situation in tourism destinations in Tunisia in order to develop possible organisational, financial and technical improvement solutions; this could be adopted and implemented to guarantee an integrated and sustainable SWM for tourism and, consequently, increasing the satisfaction of local citizens, tourists and visitors, and improving the incomes of the tourism sector. The work is organised in five parts: The first part of the thesis evaluates the present SWM practices in Tunisia. It provides the history and overview of the current situation, as well as some facts and figures related to the sector. In addition, a literature review of the SWM in tourism destinations is presented. The second part focuses on the development of adequate organisational, financial, technical, legal and social key indicators for SWM in tourism areas; following this is a series of discussions with national and local actors related to the sector. These indicators represent a basis for the data collection at national and local levels (i.e. the case of Hammamet city and Gammarth). It aims to better understand the different aspects of the sector and serves to support the decision-making process. After a detailed analysis of the current concept, its barriers and difficulties, some sustainable and integrated solutions are IV developed. A part of this part was carried out with the financial support of GIZ/CoMun project. The third part of the thesis is the reinforcement of the organisational concept of SWM in the tourism sector based on a participatory approach including all concerned actors, particularly the federation of hotels. The concept is developed after a deep diagnostic of the current organisational situation, as well as several discussions with the national and local actors. The concept should be sustainable and provide more alternatives and solutions for local authorities, particularly reducing the SWM costs. The fourth part of this thesis analyses the current recovery and recycling system, ECO- Lef, to identify the gaps and to understand the barriers that lead to the decreased collected quantities. In order to identify the existent recyclable fraction, a sorting analyses were performed in four zones in Tunis governorate: Sidi Bousaid, Bardo, Hrairia and Hammamet. For the case of Hammamet city, the sorting was elaborated for waste generated from both hotels and households. Furthermore, several meetings with concerned actors (national and local authorities, producers and fillers, importers of goods, private collection and recycling companies, NGOs) were performed to diagnose the situation and to discuss possible scenarios. This part presents the possibility of optimising the current ECO-Lef system and to develop an extended producer responsibility (EPR) concept adapted to the Tunisian context. This project is carried out with the co- financement of the GIZ and the consortium cyclos/envero GmbH. The fifth part monitors the composting process of a raw material of source-separated kitchen organic waste and green waste from Gammarth tourism destination in Tunisia. The experiments were conducted to explore the physical and chemical properties of the produced compost. The produced compost was monitored in terms of pH, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total potassium, C/N ratio, as well as heavy metal concentrations and compost respiration (AT4). The final product quality was examined and assessed against the quality specifications of the German End of Waste Criteria for bio-waste (BioAbfV) and Tunisian compost standards (NT 10.44 -2013). This project was implemented in cooperation with the municipality of La Marsa, with the support of the international centre of environmental technologies (CITET) and the University of Rostock. In conclusion, the findings indicate that decision-makers at national and local levels lack data related to SWM in tourism areas. The developed key indicators were an asset to diagnose the situation and to develop suitable solutions to improve the SWM sector and to ensure clean tourism destinations. In terms of organisational solutions, the developed solutions shows that the concept should be based on a participatory approach involving all concerned actors. In addition, results show that the development of an EPR system needs a good understanding of the national framework, which must be developed through consultation with all national and local actors, and public and private sectors, concerned with the system. A new system operator (NOS), being a not-for-profit organisation, is to be created in Tunisia to manage the system organisationally and financially. The system should be controlled by ANGED, which should also develop the collection and recycling targets with the concerned actors. Furthermore, and since organic fraction and green waste represents a big challenge for tourism destinations, the composting of clean V products could be an important solution to avoid a problem, to reduce waste that is landfilled, and to create new opportunities from the product, which could be used for private, public and agricultural activities. All these solutions should be supported by other actions such as raising the consciousness of citizens and tourists about this issue and the education of the decision makers of both public and private sectors. VI ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Tunesien hat 1993 ein nationales Abfallwirtschaftsmanagementsystem (SWM) zur Umsetzung einer integrierten Abfallwirtschaftsstrategie eingeführt. Die National Waste Management Agency (ANGED) hat mit der Sanierung von unkontrollierten Ablagerungen, der Errichtung von Standarddeponien und der Behandlung von Deponiegasen und Sickerwässern begonnen. Die Gesetze und auch die Bedingungen und Maßnahmen wurden für die Rückgewinnung und das Management von gebrauchten Verpackungssystemen (ECO-Lef), gebrauchten Batterien und Akkumulatoren (Eco- Batterien) und Abfälle aus medizinischen Tätigkeiten usw. entwickelt. Seit der Revolution vom 14. Januar 2011 und die dadurch bedingten sozioökonomischen Veränderungen ist sowohl in städtischen als auch in ländlichen Gebieten eine besorgniserregende Verschlechterung der SWM sowie eine Störung der meisten Abfallsammel- und Recyclingkanäle (Streikende, Demonstrationen usw.) zu verzeichnen. Seit