Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona

The international seminar for Mediterranean cities to discuss challenges and trends in solid waste management and the MedCities General Assembly 2017 took place on 7 and 8 November.

At the MedCities annual international seminar, the association's General Assembly discussed ‘Challenges and trends in solid waste management in Mediterranean cities'.

The international event, hosted by the Urban Community of Al Fayhaa (Tripoli, Mina, Beddawi and Kalamoun), was attended by about 150 participants on 7 November, including representatives of the member cities, as well as a wide variety of national stakeholders. The introductory round table considered the international dimension of new models for solid waste management, including the role and experience of MedCities (presentation 1 by Oriol Barba), Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM), a project implemented in Al Fayhaa with the support of Catalan partners (presentation 2 by Dima Homsi) and the role of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in support of solid waste management in the northern municipalities of Lebanon (presentation 3 by Alain Chatry). The session continued with three round table discussions that focused on the challenges and trends at different levels: multilevel governance and coordination (a presentation by Younes El Haii), waste separation and treatment, including the promotion of the recycling culture (presentation 5 by Patil Mardikian/presentation 6 by Christodoulos Ioannou/presentation 7 by Wassim Zouari) and the impact of landfill sites and environmental solutions (presentation 8 by Wassim Zouari/presentation 10 by Mustafa Hijazi). The last session concluded with a series of recommendations for the case of the landfill in Tripoli (presentation 9 by Mervat El Hoz).

More than 20 member cities took part in the meetings of the Steering Committee and the General Assembly on 8 November. The General Assembly was chaired by the President of MedCities and mayor of Tétouan, Mr Mohamed Idamomar, the president of the urban community of Al Fayhaa and mayor of Tripoli, Mr Ahmad Kamareddine, and the General Secretary of MedCities, Mr Xavier Tiana. The 2017 activities report and the 2017 and 2018 budgets were presented and approved; and the Action Plan for 2018 was also discussed and approved. Finally, the municipal representatives accepted the request of the city of Barcelona and Barcelona Metropolitan Area (AMB) to host the Annual General Assembly next year.

The cities attending were: Al Fayhaa (union of municipalities), Tripoli (Lebanon), Barcelona, Barcelona Metropolitan Area, Chaouen, Dannieh (union of municipalities), Djerba, Dubrovnik, Minah, Gabès, Jbeil Byblos, Jerash, Jounieh, Koura (union of municipalities), Larnaka, Limassol, Mahdia, Menieh (union of municipalities), Menzel Bourguiba, Monastir, Msaken, Nabeul, Saida, Sfax, Sidi Bou Saïd, Tataouine, Tétouan, Tirana, Tunis, Zarqa and Zgharta-Ehden.