As with most developing countries, the infrastructure in rural Morocco is not particularly advanced or well-funded. Ancient customs and methods of doing things can be very effective, and to a certain extent, this is true of how rubbish is dealt with. But it has become a problem beyond these methods and is having a negative impact on the local environment which has knock-on effects at a community level.

The amount of household rubbish produced in rural Morocco is far less than it would be in the UK, for example. There is much less packaging. Most fresh produce is grown or bought at local markets. There are few incidentals bought which come with packaging, and most organic waste is recycled as animal feed or composted naturally. Most households burn their waste in their hammam (to heat water) or it goes to the local communal hammam (bathhouse) for the same purpose. But despite all this natural recycling, there is no infrastructure to collect waste from households or designated places, even for businesses such as the local auberges, hotels and restaurants.

Although as a casual visitor you do not generally notice, unfortunately, there is more and more product packaging finding it’s way into gullys or streams, for the lack of any alternative. Ths will eventually make its way into the lake, or blow around the countryside – a situation that would be best nipped in the bud in order to retain the beauty of the surroundings.  Abdelatif explained that this is a serious concern of the local authorities and is certainly on the national agenda for rural communities aswell. The environmental impact is obvious and on a more aesthetic level, it will have a growing effect on tourism and the perception of the Ouirgane Valley as it becomes more popular with the discerning traveller.

This appealed to our sustainable objectives and we dug a little deeper. It took very little to ascertain that all the local restaurants and hotels would willingly support a solution to ensuring the local environment becomes one of the cleanest in Morocco. It also turned out that the folk at Kasbah Tamadot (Richard Branson’s Moroccan Retreat) in nearby Asni, and Kasbah Toubkal in the village of Imlil were also trying to address the issue for their local areas. They had been looking at a communal incinerator, but this was not the most satisfactory environmental solution given the pretty nasty emissions produced.

We brought in a consultant from Canada; a solid waste solutions expert from ARG Services. Said and I spent a fascinating time with him, assessing the scale of the problem as well as the local customs, accepted methods of disposal and the present and future challenges. We visited the local hammam (bathhouse), the hoteliers, the back paths of the villages and unofficial rubbish sites and spoke at length to residents.

One of his proposals was centered around the use of a ‘gasification’ process. In very simple terms (as it was explained to me!), it is essentially a large box into which you can throw practically ANY solid and liquid waste, with no need for treatment of pre-sorting. The thermal gasifier then reduces the waste by 97% by converting it into an inert ash and a tiny amount of left over recyclable mass with NO toxic emissions. If the quantities of waste are large enough, this waste can also be converted to energy – an essential by-product. Most importantly for a location such as the Atlas Mountains, it is low maintenance, simple to operate and has very low operating costs.

We are still in the research stage, but as we begin to look at the challenge on a larger scale, the potential solutions start to become more realistic, beneficial and sustainable to the local communities and the environment. We are in talks with the Clinton Foundation and have received confirmed support from Virgin for providing clean energy from refuse:

(extract from letter from Sir Richard Branson to the World Bank, Morocco desk…

(extract…)

I’ll keep you updated on progress…

Related posts:

1. Giving back to the community and the environment: PART 1
2. A Berber Farm: the concept
3. Argan oil: a cooperative in the Ouirgane Valley