Jordan has access to inexpensive and an abundant range of biomass feedstock. This includes municipal solid waste, sewage and industrial waste. In addition, industrial organic waste, from vegetable markets and slaughterhouses, agro-industries, olive mills and animal manure, is considered a major waste resource. Generating energy from waste is gaining increasing attention in the country. The waste generated in Jordan can be compared to most semi-industrialized nations. The generation of municipal waste Jordan is about 0.95kg per day, per capita, and around 2 million tons per year. Implementation of projects that generate energy from biomass and methane gas can contribute significantly to climate change mitigation in Jordan.

Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) together with the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have joined forces to design, build and operate a bio-gas electricity generating project at the Ghabawi solid waste landfill. The Ghabawi landfill is located 25km east of Amman, where it serves the capital and central region, stretching over 3,000 m². The landfill is considered a controlled one, managed and operated with a system, that started receiving waste in 2003 and has accumulated approximately 4 million tons of waste by 2009. An average of 3,000 tons of waste flows into the landfill daily. In addition, the Ghabawi landfill is originally designed to include a total of nine cells that receive waste. Four of the constructed five cells have reached their full capacity and the fifth is still operational. The remaining four cells are planned to be built over the lifetime of the landfill, which is approximately 25 years according to a research study conducted on the Municipal Solid Waste Landfills in Jordan.

With an approximate cost of JD21 million, the project is the first of its kind in Jordan. The project approximately generates 106 megawatt hours per day by burning methane collected from waste at the landfill. The generated electricity is used to power the landfill, while the remainder is exported back to the national grid. The municipality’s electricity bill will decrease by JD5 million a year, thus removing considerable financial burdens from GAM’s operating costs. Methane gas that is produced at the landfill is a strong contributor to global climate change and is more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. The purpose of the project is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from the Ghabawi landfill by the extraction of the landfill gas and the utilization of the methane for energy purposes. Capturing methane for energy production offsets the use of non-renewable energy sources (such as coal and oil) which subsequently leads to an improvement in the air quality due to the reduction of other air pollutants such as Nitrous and Sulfurous oxides, as well as particulate matter which has proven to be detrimental cause of harmful effects in the respiratory systems. This will improve the environmental conditions in the city and optimize waste treatment.

The Ghabawi landfill gas-to-energy project contributes to the sustainable development objectives for the City of Amman, as one of the best practices on climate change mitigation not only in Jordan, but also in the region. In addition, it ensures better air quality by reducing and recycling the methane gases released into the atmosphere.