Ghabawi landfill expected to generate 5MWh starting February

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) said on Saturday that the Ghabawi landfill will start generating 5 megawatts per hour (MWh) as of next February.

The GAM is working on investing in using waste to produce electricity, Amman Mayor Yousef Shawarbeh said during an inspection of a recycling centre in east Amman on Saturday. 

Generating electricity with such a process will contribute in processing chemical reactions and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as methane, Shawarbeh said in a statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Methane gas produced at landfills is a strong contributor to global climate change, according to the GAM, which indicated that it has 21 times the negative impact of carbon dioxide on the atmosphere.

Generating power from the Ghabawi landfill is a mega project which commenced in 2003 and is slated to be completed in 2027.

Basem Tarawneh, deputy director for districts and environmental affairs at the GAM, said that there are future projects to develop waste management by improving the recycling centre and finishing the cells at Ghabawi landfill, Petra reported.

Director of the  Waste Treatment Unit at the GAM, Abdullah Thuneibat, said that an environmental initiative was launched in August to reuse old tyres, and more than 17,500 were used on Ghabawi landfill’s fifth cell, as well as decorating the centre.

Thuneibat noted that an average of 4,300 tonnes of waste flows into Ghabawi landfill daily.

The generated electricity from the project will be used to power the landfill, while the remainder will be sent back to the national grid. The landfill serves the capital and the central region, and receives 1.3 million tonnes of waste annually. It is expected to remain in operation beyond 2030, according to the GAM.