As part of an exchange visit organized by WWF Mediterranean for representatives of several Mediterranean cities involved in the Plastic Smart Cities initiative, Tangier Municipality was able to present the efforts it has been making in partnership with Living Planet Morocco since November 2019, when the city committed to limiting plastic waste leakage into Nature by 2030.
The exchange visit took place in Venice, Italy, on June 22 and 23, 2022. In addition to Mr. Mouhssine Abderrahim, Head of the Waste Management and Control Department at the Commune of Tangier and member of the Plastic Smart Cities Tangier steering committee, several other representatives from the cities of Dubrovnik (Croatia), Izmir (Turkey), Tinja (Tunisia), Trojir (Croatia), Sezme (Turkey) as well as officials from the Municipality of Venice took part in the event.
In his presentation on the state of progress of the project, Mr. Mouhssine Abderrahim stressed that the City of Tangier’s commitment to the project had already materialized in 2020 through the inclusion of clauses in the contracts drawn up with the companies delegated to provide the waste management service, enabling them to mobilize some 200 workers over 6 months of each year to clean up black spots that are not part of the official waste collection route. The Commune de Tanger representative also pointed out that a waste management analysis study was carried out during 2021 in partnership with Living Planet Morocco, based on a methodology implemented by UN Habitat. “This study has enabled us to generate new, relevant indicators that will provide a baseline and guarantee the monitoring of activities carried out as part of the project,” he added.
Plastic Smart Cities Tangier is also intended to be a collective initiative, since its steering committee includes representatives of various stakeholders concerned by the problem of plastic pollution: The regional departments of Tourism, Environment, Industry and Commerce, National Education, the HCP, as well as the Port of Tangier and the delegated companies operating in the city of Tangier: Mecomar, ARMA and Averda. “Several pilot establishments, including 4 schools, a hotel and the Tanja Marina Bay International, have been active since last year in setting up experiments in good plastic management practices”, emphasized the same source, specifying that the dissemination and generalization of these good practices will be encouraged in the medium and long term. “Based on the good practices implemented in the 4 pilot schools, Living Planet Morocco has prepared and printed an educational guide which the regional directorate of national education has taken on the task of distributing to all the city’s schools”, added the representative of the city of Tangier.
At its last meeting, the project’s steering committee validated the main lines of Tangier’s action plan, which will enable the city to achieve its objective of reducing plastic waste leakage. “One of the key components of this roadmap is the establishment of a collection unit for waste sorted by the pilot establishments, with a view to its recovery”, announced Mr. Mouhssine, adding that Avedra will also set up a sorting center at the landfill site to optimize waste recycling potential. Mr. Mouhssine also spoke of the week-long campaign to raise awareness and clean up black spots in various parts of the city. “This campaign enabled several local associations to take ownership of the project’s objectives and to build a citizen watch system to prevent waste leaks into the environment. In addition, an application will soon be available to notify the Commune of any waste-related problems”, announced the same source.
It should be noted that during this exchange visit, participants were able to discover the waste collection and recycling solutions implemented in the city of Venice, which is also committed to becoming a Plastic Smart City by 2030.
Last modified: November 23, 2023
