Swanky Savyon is country's top waste producer, study shows
From: Stuart Schoenfeld
Jerusalem Post
Sep. 27, 2006 22:38 | Updated Sep. 27, 2006 22:47
Swanky Savyon is country's top waste producer, study shows
By NOAM PRIMAK
Savyon may have a reputation for having some of the fanciest homes in the
nation, but the upscale community also leads the country in a less desirable
area: its residents produce the most waste per person of any community in
Israel.
According to Enviroment Ministry data, the average Israeli produces more than
one and a half kilograms of waste every day, but Savyon residents produce
almost triple that much, at 4.47 kg. Following Savyon in producing the most
waste were Eilat (3.45); Ramat Efal (2.98); Tel Aviv (2.62) and Tiberias
(2.62). Jerusalem produces 1.26 kg. per person.
According to the ministry's annual report, Israelis produced some 5.7 million
tons of waste in 2005 - an average of 560 kg. per person per year, or 1.53 kg.
of garbage per day. The figures include industrial waste.
Plastics make up about 35% by volume of the garbage disposed of in Israel, while
paper products and cardboard account for about 29% (1995 figures). Organic waste
makes up 15% by volume, but 38% by weight.
In 1993, the government ordered the closing of most of the country's smaller
garbage dumps and the channeling of most solid waste to authorized disposal
sites. Hundreds of dumps were closed down, resulting in a shortage of available
disposal space.
Environment Minister Gideon Ezra said the percentage of waste being collected
for recycling has been growing in recent years. The rate of recycling has gone
up from just three percent of total waste collected in the early 1990s to 23%
in 2005.
Israel lags several years behind Europe and the United States in recycling. Ezra
estimated that a joint effort by the Environment Ministry and local authorities
could increase the rate of recycling to 35% - the current level in the US - by
2010.
Currently, local authorities are required to collect at least 15% of waste for
recycling.
Ezra said that recycling could be increased by levying a garbage disposal tax
and by encouraging the development of new recycling technologies.
Israel employs a combined plan known as Integrated Solid Waste Management that
aims to make waste disposal more efficient. The plan combines traditional
burial of solid waste in dump sites with efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle
waste materials.
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