Over the past decade, Oman has significantly reduced the risks associated with unmanaged waste, investing in modern landfills, structured collection systems, and public awareness campaigns. Yet disposal metrics tell only part of the story.
The larger economic question is how much value continues to be lost when materials exit the system rather than circulate within it. International benchmarks consistently show that countries capturing secondary material value gain not only environmental benefits but also employment resilience and lower exposure to import volatility.
At the household level, circular economy principles in Oman are already visible, though unevenly adopted. Waste sorting, basic repair practices, and informal reuse networks exist, but their impact remains marginal without scale. In circular systems elsewhere, household participation acts as a multiplier, feeding higher-quality material streams into recycling, refurbishment, and composting operations. Without that input quality, even well-designed infrastructure underperforms.
For small and medium-sized enterprises, circularity is less about environmental signaling and more about commercial viability. Recycling, repair, and refurbishment businesses tend to be labor-intensive and locally anchored, generating jobs that cannot be easily outsourced. This aligns directly with Oman’s In-Country Value objectives, where retaining economic activity domestically is a strategic priority rather than a secondary benefit. However, limited access to finance, inconsistent feedstock quality, and weak demand signals continue to constrain SME participation.
The construction sector illustrates both the scale of opportunity and the cost of inaction. Construction and demolition waste represents one of the largest material streams by volume. Processing this waste into secondary aggregates or construction inputs can reduce landfill pressure while cutting dependence on imported raw materials. In practice, however, the absence of standardized procurement rules for recycled construction materials limits uptake, keeping disposal cheaper than recovery in many cases.
Similar dynamics play out in the food and hospitality sector. Food waste reduction, surplus redistribution, and organic waste processing into compost or energy offer measurable economic returns when integrated into broader energy and agriculture systems. When paired with renewable energy and efficiency measures, these practices can stabilize operating costs for businesses while reducing environmental externalities. Fragmentation, rather than technology, remains the dominant constraint.
Institutionally, Oman has made progress through centralized waste management reforms. be’ah has modernized landfill operations and expanded recycling initiatives, establishing a functional baseline for material control. Municipal awareness campaigns and early private-sector pilots further indicate growing recognition of resource recovery potential. Still, most initiatives remain narrowly framed around waste management, stopping short of addressing production design, consumption patterns, and procurement systems as a single loop.
This lack of integration is where momentum stalls. Circular economies function when material flows, skills development, industrial policy, and community behavior reinforce one another. Oman’s National Circular Economy Gap Calculation Project marks an important analytical step, quantifying where materials leak from the economy and where value retention is feasible. Data alone, however, does not close gaps unless it informs procurement rules, education curricula, and investment incentives.
Globally, evidence suggests that circular activities such as repair, recycling, and remanufacturing generate more jobs per tonne of material than landfill disposal. These jobs are typically accessible to younger workers and entrepreneurs, supporting workforce diversification. Using locally recovered materials also buffers economies against global commodity price swings and supply chain disruptions, which have become more frequent and costly.
The barriers Oman faces are structural rather than technical. Policy silos separate waste, industry, education, and procurement, making scale difficult. Disposal often remains the cheapest option because incentives for reuse and repair are weak or inconsistent. Circular economy concepts are only beginning to enter formal education, leaving gaps in systems thinking and sustainable design skills. Community engagement, while improving, remains underdeveloped, limiting social ownership of circular practices.
The path forward depends on repositioning existing institutions rather than creating entirely new ones. be’ah, having stabilized waste operations, is well placed to evolve into a broader circular economy enabler by scaling waste-to-value streams such as organic composting, construction material recovery, and e-waste processing. Supporting Extended Producer Responsibility schemes for packaging and electronics would further shift costs upstream, encouraging design for reuse and recyclability.
Education and data transparency are equally critical. Universities and colleges can function as living laboratories, embedding circular principles into engineering, business, and policy programs while applying them on campus. Partnerships with SMEs and municipalities can translate academic models into operational pilots, closing the gap between theory and practice.
Community-level initiatives remain the final, and often decisive, layer. Neighborhood recycling systems, repair cultures, and reuse networks transform policy frameworks into daily behavior. Expanding public awareness beyond recycling, piloting circular neighborhoods, embedding circular criteria into In-Country Value frameworks, and improving transparency around material flows would collectively move Oman closer to a functioning circular society.
