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Ammon News - The Mayor of the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM), Yousef Shawarbeh, has revealed that the Municipality was able to reduce its electricity bill by 40 to 45 percent thanks to a 2019 project that converted the city's waste into energy.

Shawarbeh indicated during a discussion on the capital's environmental strategy that the municipality had switched to LED street lighting to cut emissions and conserve electricity. The discussion was sponsored by the Cultural Forum at the Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation in cooperation with the Arab Forum for Environment and Development "AFED".

He noted that the Municipality is employing a new strategy for managing waste in the city by sorting it at the point of generation before collecting, transporting, recycling, and converting it to various industries and energy, revealing the establishment of a waste management company that is entirely owned by the Municipality.

The mayor of Amman, speaking about the environment, emphasized that environmental initiatives include not only green and urban spaces, but also waste management, transportation, planning, and programming.

He disclosed that 13 new public parks will be built in the capital as part of GAM's 2022–2026 strategy, and the other 12 parks will be rehabilitated.

He pointed out that 90 percent of air pollution in Amman is caused by traffic and transportation, revealing that 15 electric buses will hit the capital's streets early next month, and that 136 new buses will enter service before the end of the current year.

Shawarbeh also revealed that the Municipality is about to float a tender to roll out a camera-based traffic management system to reduce parking violations, traffic light running, littering, and other major traffic infractions.