Jordan faces increasing issues with waste as growing populations consume more. Municipal solid waste rose from 2.6 million tonnes in 2014 to almost 3 million tonnes in 2017, compounded by the fact that the country has very little official or unofficial recycling. The seaside city of Aqaba is beginning to apply circular economy approaches to turn its waste into an asset rather than a burden – building the business case for resource efficient approaches and providing livelihoods to vulnerable communities.