Abstract

Waste management has been acknowledged as one of Bahrain’s biggest challenges due to its impending effects regarded as detrimental to the country. Data gathered within the past thirty years have all revealed significant increases on waste quantity generated in the country along the categories of residential, commercial, institutional, construction and demolition, municipal services, public areas, treatment plant sites, industrial, and agricultural wastes. The limited land area, characterised by Bahrain’s small geographical space, is the biggest factor that contributes to the problem of managing the increasing waste accumulation of the country and finding sustainable systems of waste management. As such, the growing need to refurbish the current system of municipal solid waste management utilised in the country is the focus of this study. Sustainable waste management systems through the adoption of Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) is analysed as a probable solution towards solving the hazards and complexities posed by current waste management problems. Existing literature inclusive of all available sources of information used to analyse current waste management systems in the country, as well as a series of interviews and household surveys, have been utilized to develop an ISWM system that fits the current trends and needs of Bahrain.

Key words: Kingdom of Bahrain, integrated solid waste management, municipal solid waste, solid wastes, sustainable development.