Project type                                                                             Waste Management

Sfax is the leading fishing port in Tunisia. Fishing ports in Tunisia are managed by the Fishing Ports and Facilities Agency (Agence des Ports et des Installations de Pêche – APIP). The importance of the economic activity in the fishing port of Sfax is accompanied by a high level of pollution of the coastline (basin and quays) and the surrounding area of the port.

Next to the fishing port of Sfax, there is a municipal landfill known as the “port landfill”, which was originally intended for construction and demolition waste and was converted into a landfill for domestic waste after the city’s waste crisis (following the closure of the El Gonna landfill in Agareb in November 2021). The landfill is used by the port to dispose of all types of waste generated by port activities.

The “ENhancing Socio-Ecological RESilence in Mediterranean coastal areas” (ENSERES) project is a capitalisation project funded by the European Union’s ENI CBC Med programme. It focuses on the transfer, replication and scaling up of successful and effective Integrated Coastal Zone Management and ecosystem-based management tools and practices developed from past and ongoing initiatives in the project pilot areas (including Sfax/Gulf of Gabes).

Against this background, the stakeholders in Sfax have selected, in a participatory manner, the tools best suited to respond to local priorities. In this context, the Municipality of Sfax and MedCities have chosen to implement, through a mentoring process, the “Marine litter prevention and abatement measures” tool developed by the Interreg MED PlasticBustersMPAs project in the fishing port of Sfax.

This process allowed :

• Establish a regular monitoring plan, and test it with all the stakeholders involved, to identify the problems of marine waste in the port of Sfax (typology, quantity and origin).
• Identify the most appropriate measures to prevent and reduce marine pollution and develop the process for implementing them.
• Strengthen the capacity of stakeholders and decision-makers in Sfax to monitor, prevent and manage waste in the port of Sfax.

The monitoring plan and recommendations to improve waste management in the port of Sfax were prepared by MedCities experts in close consultation with the Municipality of Sfax and APIP, and with the involvement of other stakeholders such as the Ministry of the Environment, the National Environmental Protection Agency (Agence Nationale de Protection de l’Environnement – ANPE), the National Waste Management Agency (Agence Nationale de Gestion des Déchets – ANGed), the Coastal Protection and Management Agency (Agence de Protection et d’Aménagement du Littoral – APAL), the Sfax Regional Ecological Observatory association (Observatoire Régional Écologique de Sfax – ORES) and many others.

A number of stakeholders benefited from a study visit to the port of Barcelona, where they were able to interact with their peers and benefit from best practices that could feed into the development of the waste monitoring and management plan for the fishing port of Sfax.

Through a specific sub-grant, the ORES association contributed to this initiative by carrying out several activities aimed at combating marine pollution in the port of Sfax. These activities included an environmental diagnostic, workshops and training sessions, preventive measures, awareness raising and clean-up campaigns.

In the port of Sfax, a co-management committee was set up with representatives from all the companies operating in the area, fishermen, government institutions and environmental organisations. The committee oversaw the development of the monitoring and management plan.

This activity culminated in the signing of an agreement between the Sfax Municipality and the APIP for the preparation of a feasibility study to determine the appropriate legal structure for the creation of a waste management company (start-up) at the APIP. The ANGeD is also involved in this project, in particular through the implementation of a programme to clean up the port by means of the “41 mechanism” (contribution to the financing of a small or medium-sized enterprise to be created by a university graduate), in close coordination with APIP.

• Establishment of a waste monitoring plan for the fishing port of Sfax
• Establishment of a plan for the sustainable management of waste from land-based activities and marine sources for the fishing port of Sfax
• Creation of a waste management committee for the fishing port of Sfax
• Improving dialogue and cooperation between local communities and government institutions
• Involving civil society organizations in tackling environmental problems in Sfax
• Leading to the creation of a public-private partnership
• Contribute to solving the environmental and waste management problems of the city of Sfax
• Raise awareness among fishers and other port users and stakeholders of the problem of marine pollution and litter