One of the goals of the plan - to reduce the landfill of waste to only 20% by 2030 • Minister of the High School: "Align with advanced countries"
A site for burying "Hadas" waste near Hiriya
Photography:
Dudu Greenspan
The Ministry of Environmental Protection presented today (Tuesday) Israel's new waste strategy, in accordance with the goal set by Minister Gila Gamliel last summer, which sets a transition from about 80% currently dumped to 20% in 2030.
The basic idea behind the new strategy is to make the Israeli economy "linear" by 2050, ie a large and polluting resource consumption - a "circular" economy, which strives for a minimum of waste and maximum efficiency in the use of resources.
This is in order to reduce waste production, turn it into a resource and reduce the negative environmental impacts throughout the waste treatment chain.
The new policy will enable the achievement of the following targets by 2030: 54% transfer for recycling;
100% infrastructure for sorting and separating organic waste at source;
0% landfill of untreated waste and 20% landfill and 47% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
About 80% of waste in Israel is landfilled, a figure that has not changed significantly in the last 20 years.
Landfilling involves a complex of adverse environmental impacts that often last for centuries, including greenhouse gas emissions, emissions of local air pollutants, and high-level leaching of organic and inorganic compounds (including heavy metals) into soil and water sources.
In contrast to the observed trends in the EU countries of a significant increase in recycling percentages (46% on average as of 2017) and a reduction in waste per capita, recycling percentages in Israel are significantly lower than in OECD countries.
Therefore, a comprehensive reform of the waste economy is required.
Minister of Environmental Protection Gila Gamliel: "From about 80% landfill today, the State of Israel will reach 20% landfill in 2030 and transfer 54% of municipal waste for recycling. The new strategic plan we present today adopts the standards used in advanced countries to treat waste and turn it into a hazard. It is not possible that in the third decade of the 21st century we will continue to bury about 80% of the waste in the soil, while emitting greenhouse gases, soil and groundwater pollution and losing valuable resources.The implementation of the strategy will promote the recycling industry in Israel, helping the economy return to growth after the corona crisis. The strategy places emphasis on local authorities and residents, in a way that the authorities will save hundreds of millions of shekels a year in 2030. "
Adam Teva VeDin welcomed the move: "The Minister and the Ministry of Environmental Protection are to be congratulated on preparing a comprehensive, thorough and in-depth plan that is in line with the standards used in the advanced countries of the world in the field of waste reduction and treatment. Provided appropriate regulatory tools, correct solutions and incentives "Economic such as" pay as you throw ", which aim to change the culture of consumption and lead to a reduction in waste at source, can lead in 2030 to reverse the current situation in Israel today and a minimum landfill of waste that does not exceed 20% of total waste produced.
Gil Livneh, CEO of the Association of Cities Dan Sanitation, which operates the Hiriya Recycling Park, also commented on the new plan: "The national goal of reaching a 20% landfill of waste only by 2030 is achievable and we have the capabilities to reach it through further development of sorting facilities. Regional and addressing the issue of prudent consumption and reducing consumption and waste.
At the annual waste treatment conference we held today at Hiriya Park, we presented our plan as the body responsible for sorting and treating about a quarter of the waste in Israel, to implement the Ministry of Environmental Protection's strategy, while learning from other countries and assuming that the comprehensive solution includes non-sortable waste.