A pilot project for the recycling of household and similar waste has just been launched in the Sidi Bernoussi district prefecture. This project was launched as part of a National Human Development Initiative programme. Installed on an area of 1,000 m², it includes the setting up of a sorting, recycling and waste evaluation unit and cold rooms for organic waste. Thanks to this initiative, which required nearly 9.5 million dirhams, residents could learn and refine their knowledge of sorting. The project initiators are expected to orchestrate a significant change in the behaviour of millions of individuals towards a more systematic sorting habit. In this context, awareness-raising actions are essential. Achieving the objective relies primarily on the behaviour of citizens since everything starts with their sorting, the first step in the recycling loop. This is why several ecological points have been installed in the neighbourhoods of Sidi Bernoussi. These are more precisely "eco-kiosks". These kiosks will be supervised by a sorting agent and will be equipped with waste containers, differentiated by specific colours for each material (metal, plastic, paper, etc.). Their mission is to make residents aware of the importance of protecting the environment. "These kiosks aim to install the culture of pre-sorting household waste among families," we learned from the Sidi Bernoussi district prefecture.

It should be noted that this project, which aims to recycle 20% of waste by 2015, also aims to integrate ragpickers or scavengers who recover waste from bins. It will make it possible to supervise this precarious social category and offer it a healthy working climate and better living conditions. For the moment, the project has made it possible to reintegrate about 60 people who were working randomly and in inhumane conditions in the collection, sorting and resale of waste. From now on, they can have a stable income by reselling the waste in the form of raw materials to industrialists. Furthermore, several women's cooperatives are joining the project by manufacturing the ecological bags distributed to residents. This initiative could be generalised to the rest of the prefectures of Casablanca, which produces nearly 3,000 tonnes of waste daily.

Advantages of the project: The household and similar waste sorting and recycling project is launched in partnership between the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and the Environment, the company Prominox, the El Jamaï group and the Sidi Bernoussi districts. The INDH is contributing 3.820 million dirhams to this project. In addition to creating job offers and reintegrating people living in precariousness, this initiative aims to reduce the volume of household and similar waste, as well as the cost allocated to cleaning and waste collection services. The implementation and duplication of this innovative experience are part of the sustainable development process of Greater Casablanca and will make it possible to achieve several objectives on both the environmental, economic and social levels.