Implementing the recycling revolution 31 Jul 2013
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Implementing the recycling revolution

  • 8/1/2013
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    Financial incentives along with legislation and information are ushering in a new era of sustainable waste management in Israel.
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    Separate and recycle poster - Let’s Think Green Campaign Separate and recycle poster - Let’s Think Green Campaign Copyright: Israel Government Advertising Bureau
     
     
    (Excerpt from Israel Environment Bulletin, Vol. 39, July 2013)

    More than 187,000 households joined the separation of waste at source revolution in Israel by May 2013. This number is expected to grow to 450,000 households or 1.5 million residents in 2015, at which time some 350,000 tons of household waste will be recycled in dozens of recycling and renewable waste to energy facilities throughout the country.

    Israel has gone a long way toward fulfilling its vision of sustainable materials management. Under the motto “From Nuisance to Resource,” the Ministry of Environmental Protection is working hard to reduce the quantity of waste that the country generates, in general, and the quantity reaching landfills, in particular, while increasing the amount of waste which is recycled and recovered.

    Where in the past solid waste policy in Israel focused on the removal of nuisances and the promotion of environmentally sound landfilling, today the emphasis is on separation of waste at source, increased landfill levies, extended producer responsibility legislation, mandatory recycling and the establishment or upgrading of recycling and recovery facilities. The target is to reach at least a 50% recovery and recycling rate by 2020.

    “Over the past few years, Israel has directed its efforts toward setting the infrastructure for recycling and recovery,” says Na’ama Ashur Ben Ari, director of the Solid Waste Division in the Ministry of Environmental Protection. “The year 2013 is expected to be the year of implementation.”

     
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  • Separation of waste at source

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    Separation of waste at source is, to a large extent, the foundation of the recycling revolution that is now taking place in Israel. In the summer of 2010, the Ministry of Environmental Protection launched a major financial support program to local authorities for the establishment of infrastructure for the separation of waste at source into at least two streams – clean biodegradable (wet) and all the rest (dry).

    According to the plan, the first local authorities to commit to separation at source within three years and for a period of at least ten years are rewarded with a financial benefit package which includes bins for wet (brown) and bins for dry (green) waste, waste collection vehicles, renovated garbage rooms, public awareness and education programs, and more. The clean organic waste is transferred for treatment, especially anaerobic digestion, while the dry waste is transported to material recovery facilities and to recycling plants. Only residues which are not recyclable are to be be landfilled or sent to cement kilns or power plants as refuse derived fuel (RDF).

    More than 40 local authorities responded to the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s first call for proposals to join the pioneering program. By June of 2011, NIS 350 million (about $95 million) were allocated to 31 local authorities which were later joined by another twelve localities. An additional call for proposals in the sum of NIS 160 million was issued in October 2012, with 76 local authorities presenting their candidacy for the introduction of separation of waste at source in the entire municipality or in specific neighborhoods in large municipalities. It is expected that another thirty local authorities populated by a million residents will join the program in 2013.

    The results are readily visible: brown bins for biodegradable organic waste and green bins for dry waste are prominent in a host of localities. They are often joined by blue bins for paper and cardboard and orange bins for packaging waste. However, no matter what the combination, separation of waste at source is now a reality in more and more local authorities in Israel.

  • Education and Information

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    By all accounts, a prerequisite for the success of the separation of waste at source program is education. Door-to-door visits to homes and apartments are educating residents about the separation at source project, while providing them with information sheets and brown and green bins. In parallel, public information campaigns are waged using the media as well as brochures, stickers and posters.

    On a national level, a widescale campaign to promote an environmental lifestyle in Israel, dubbed “Let’s Think Green,” launched by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in January 2011, uses clear messages with simple advice on subjects touching on the daily life of citizens throughout the country. Separation of waste at source is one of them.

    In parallel, the educational system has put separation at source on its curriculum. A multi-media educational kit was recently completed and distributed to first to sixth graders in the local authorities which pioneered the separation at source program. Each child in these localities is exposed to the waste problem and its potential solutions within the framework of three lessons, where every means is used to drive the message home.

  • With an eye to the future

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    The foundations for separation of waste at source and recycling have been laid in Israel. Legislation, education and economic tools are all being used to spark the revolution. Today’s synergetic and complementary legal tools, together with a large dose of education and information and generous financial incentives, should help usher in a new era of sustainable materials management in Israel.