Gulf waste market seen topping $104 billion by 2031

The latest:

The Gulf’s waste sector is being recast as an investment market rather than a municipal service, with the GCC statistical report putting its value at $68.3 billion in 2025 and projecting more than $104.06 billion by 2031, a compound annual growth rate of 7.29%. Collected volumes reached 283.5 million tonnes in 2024. Of that, 69.0 million tonnes were treated, 6.2% more than a year earlier.

Details:

• The headline numbers: According to the GCC statistical report, total collected waste across the six member states hit 283.5 million tonnes in 2024, a 20.4% annual increase. Treated volumes grew more slowly, at 6.2%, reaching 69.0 million tonnes, as recycling and treatment infrastructure expanded across the bloc.
• Hazardous share: Non-hazardous material accounted for 97.1% of everything collected, against 2.9% hazardous. Hazardous waste made up 11.7% of treated volumes, up from 9.9% in 2023. Its treatment split between physical and chemical processing, resale and reuse at 61.1%, recycling at 21.6%, engineered landfill at 15.5% and incineration at 1.9%.
• Construction boom: Construction and demolition debris posted the fastest growth of any stream, up 26.5% to 226.6 million tonnes in 2024 from 179.1 million in 2023, 136.7 million in 2022 and 109.9 million in 2021. Construction GDP rose 43.6% to $187.8 billion over the same stretch, with the workforce up 42.4% to 4.7 million.
• Industrial waste: Hazardous industrial waste production grew 19.5% to 6.4 million tonnes, or 77.6% of all hazardous waste generated, with collected volumes up 17.6%. Industrial GDP climbed from $885.4 billion in 2021 to $1.256 trillion, and sector employment from 5 million to 7.5 million workers.
• Treatment facilities: Under the Basel Convention, GCC states operate 28 facilities for recycling and metals reclamation, growing at an average 20.1% a year, and 43 accredited plants for refining and reusing waste oils, changing at an average 25.2% annually between 2019 and 2024.
• Medical stream: Hazardous medical waste reached 134.6 thousand tonnes in 2024, 1.6% of hazardous output, rising 14.3% year on year. The region has 27 incineration sites with design capacity of 176.1 thousand tonnes, up 67.1% since 2019, as hospitals grew 10.6% to 898 and health staff passed 1 million.
• Municipal and agricultural: Municipal waste collection stood at 48.8 million tonnes, with households contributing over 45% and organic material more than 30%. Of 57.8 million tonnes of municipal solid waste handled, 52.1 million were landfilled and 5.7 million fully recycled. The UAE led agricultural waste collection at 2.4 million tonnes, ahead of Kuwait at 0.6 million.
• Global rankings: The UAE, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait each scored a perfect 100 out of 100 on sustainable solid waste management in Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index, ranking first worldwide among 180 countries. Bahrain registered 98.51 and Saudi Arabia 92.27.
• Exports and reporting: GCC states exported 0.8 million tonnes of hazardous waste in 2024, with 72.6% destined for recycling or metals recovery and 9.8% for recovery of other inorganic materials. Cumulative national reports filed with the Basel Convention secretariat rose to 92, from 87 in 2023.

Background:

The GCC statistical report frames waste handling as shifting from a cost borne by municipalities to a market served by private operators, concentrated in hazardous industrial and medical waste, materials recycling, metals reclamation and used-oil refining.

Between the lines:

The growth is downstream of construction and industry, not of waste policy. Demolition debris rose 26.5% as construction GDP rose 43.6%, and hazardous industrial waste rose 19.5% as industrial output passed $1.25 trillion. Treatment, growing at 6.2%, is expanding far slower than collection at 20.4%, which is where the 28 recycling and 43 oil-refining facilities point to the investment gap.

What’s next

Watch uptake of the Gulf sustainable buildings standard adopted by the GCC Standardization Organization in 2025, the next annual treatment-to-collection ratio, and further national filings to the Basel Convention secretariat beyond the current 92.