Al-Ramousa Recycling Plant at Centre of Rubble Reuse in Aleppo

Efforts to address the reconstruction and improve service provision in the eastern neighbourhoods of Aleppo continue to run up against the sheer volume of rubble accumulated over years of war, with no comprehensive official programmes or studies to deal with the issue. With the capacity of municipal and local authorities remaining limited, interventions are confined to scattered locations. Piecemeal initiatives have also emerged from international and local actors to remove and recycle rubble within narrow timeframes and geographical frameworks.

The recently restarted recycling plant in the Al-Ramousa area has emerged as a central pillar in handling the debris, both in terms of transporting rubble out of damaged neighbourhoods and supplying the construction sector with recycled materials. However, the limited scope of these interventions, disparities in levels of destruction and the nature of the urban fabric between different neighbourhoods, and the continued difficulty in managing rubble have kept these partial solutions from solving the full scope of the problem.

Lack of data and a widening gap

There are still no official statistics defining the volume of rubble or its distribution across different neighbourhoods of Aleppo, which hinders handling the issue and planning for solutions.

Instead, rubble removal operations over recent years have been limited to partial and sporadic campaigns targeting certain streets and sites in neighbourhoods such as Karm Homad, Karm Al-Daadaa, Al-Shaar, Al-Sakhour, and Qadi Aaskar. These efforts resulted in the removal of relatively modest quantities of rubble when measured against the sheer scale of destruction. Meanwhile, not all affected neighbourhoods were included, leaving a large number outside any effective intervention.

Moreover, variations in destruction levels between neighbourhoods and unlicensed construction have prevented accurate assessments and large-scale removal operations.

Limited local capacity

This disparity highlights the limited capacity of local bodies to manage the rubble. The Aleppo City Council, which bears primary responsibility for its removal, has so far been unable to adopt a comprehensive plan for affected neighbourhoods or to conduct systematic assessments of damage levels, according to The Syria Report’s local correspondent. Its interventions have, like others, been confined to scattered sites, depending on available resources.

Partial and temporary international intervention

Given the limited capacity of local bodies to address the rubble, a modest intervention by international organisations has emerged, including a project to transport and recycle rubble through a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Aleppo Governorate. Aleppo Governor Azzam Al-Gharib announced the start of the project via Facebook on October 24, describing it as a step towards improving services and creating job opportunities, particularly in the most affected areas.

Mr Gharib said the project was meant to rehabilitate infrastructure and the electricity grid, recycle rubble, and provide support for the Al-Ramousa recycling plant. He said these measures were the beginning of reconstruction from “square one.” He added that the work was not a development project but rather reflected residents’ need to start anew.

The project was announced in October under a cash-for-work framework for a fixed duration of eight months, with a focus on providing temporary employment opportunities for workers and field supervisors of both genders, following training in occupational safety and the risks of landmines and war remnants. The project set a monthly wage of USD 200 for supervisors and USD 250 for other workers.

The work is concentrated in the neighbourhoods of Qadi Aaskar, Bab Al-Nairab and the Old City centre, which are among the most heavily damaged areas in the eastern part of Aleppo. The damage extended to residential and historic buildings. Rubble from these areas is to be transported to the Al-Ramousa plant south of Aleppo. This intervention can be seen as a partial response aimed at filling an existing gap in the rubble response, without constituting a public policy or a comprehensive plan to address debris in eastern Aleppo’s neighbourhoods.

Parallel local roles

Alongside the limited international intervention, roles in dealing with the rubble file have been divided between the Aleppo City Council and other local actors, most notably the Syrian Civil Defence, which carried out rubble removal campaigns covering a number of eastern Aleppo neighbourhoods. The state-run SANA news agency reported on 16 November that the Civil Defence managed to remove around 128,000 cubic metres of rubble through campaigns covering 16 neighbourhoods in the eastern part of the city.

These works were implemented under the Community Resilience Enhancement Programme, in cooperation with the Aleppo Governorate and funded by the Syria Recovery Trust Fund, an international funding mechanism established in 2012 by a group of donor countries to support humanitarian and service responses in Syria. The fund operates as a flexible financing mechanism to implement specific projects through field partners.

The Al-Ramousa plant

The Al-Ramousa plant is one of the few facilities dedicated to recycling war debris in the city of Aleppo. The plant was established on an area estimated at around 85,000 square metres and began operations in early 2018 with support from an international organisation, producing materials such as tiles, coarse aggregate and crushed stone.

However, the plant did not stay in operation for long, ceasing work in early 2020 amid suspected corruption by officials from the City Council and Aleppo Governorate. Two years later, the plant was offered for investment through a public auction, but the attempt did not last due to the City Council’s inability, or reluctance, to secure sufficient quantities of rubble to operate the production lines.

The Syria Report’s local correspondent noted that the City Council and Civil Defence transported large quantities of rubble to the plant in recent months, enabling it to resume operations this past October. There is currently a plan to transport more debris from destroyed neighbourhoods to the plant, with the aim of operating it over the long term, with a production capacity capable of recycling more than 50,000 cubic metres of rubble per day, in an attempt to make use of this facility after years of disruption and stoppage.

Al-Ramousa as a potential resource for the construction sector

Contractor Issa Othman told The Syria Report that supplying new heavy equipment and expanding the rubble recycling plant in Al-Ramousa could represent a turning point for Aleppo’s construction sector. He noted that operating the plant’s production line would supply the construction materials market with recycled materials such as crushed stone, roofing tiles and paving slabs at prices lower than those produced by the private sector.

According to Mr Othman, this would reduce construction costs and encourage developers, contractors and traders to rebuild destroyed housing units or construct new ones, while also easing the financial burden on residents who are forced to repair their homes at their own expense. He added that the local availability of these materials could accelerate the pace of individual reconstruction, which is currently hampered by high prices and low supply. He also pointed out that private-sector factories and workshops operating in the construction sector currently lack the capacity to supply the quantities of materials required for a large-scale reconstruction phase, making reliance on recycled rubble an important factor in covering part of this shortfall.

Potential service uses

Abdullah Tayfour, a shift supervisor at the Al-Ramousa plant, told The Syria Report that operating the plant at full capacity in the future could have a positive impact on rehabilitating damaged public-sector buildings and improving infrastructure in the city of Aleppo.

He explained that the plant’s recycled products could be used to implement service projects run by the City Council, including the restoration of public facilities, roads and pavement, as well as the rehabilitation of public squares and gardens. According to Mr Tayfour, the local availability of these materials facilitates the implementation of service projects and shortens the time required to complete them, compared with the period immediately after Assad’s ouster last year, during which the city suffered from a clear shortage of construction materials needed for repair and rehabilitation works.