Tires, plastics, and other types of solid waste will soon be converted into energy and other products at a new Israel mega recycling plant. Photo: Haaretz/Michal Fattal
Israel’s garbage dumps and landfills are often referred to as large, unsightly “garbage mountains” such as the Hiriya garbage mound near Tel Aviv. With the Hiriya site now in the process of getting a new “face” by being turned into a large ecology park, many waste disposal sites have been relocated out of sight and mind to the country’s southern Negev region, where literally all types of garbage are buried, including large items like thrown out mattresses.
The Hiriya garbage mound is now being transformed into an ecology park
This situation may be changing, however, with the Israeli government now issuing tenders for the construction of what is being billed as the largest Mid East recycling plant, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The plant when completed will be able to process a daily amount of around 1000 tons of garbage and trash, an amount said to be at least twice as much as the amount accumulated daily in the entire Tel Aviv and Jaffa area.
Part of the garbage will be processed into energy in the form of methane gas and biofuel, while other materials will be either made into compost for fertilizer or recycled into various products. Israel’s environmental ministry believes that this kind of facility will not only create new jobs, but will also reduce the need for landfills as well as enable the country to be less dependent on imported energy such as oil.
Finance Ministry accountant-general Michal Abadi-Boiangiu was quoted as saying that this kind of project will enable the country’s environment to not only benefit from less need for landfills but to also “implement government policies for promoting renewable energy production.”
In addition to creating energy from bio gas, other renewable energy projects will include those like solar energy, she added.
Haaretz reports that there may be two sites created in Israel to specialize in processing waste products to produce energy. One of these sites will be at the former Hiriya garbage dump and will be able to take in and recycle as much as 1,500 tons of waste per day.
Other Mid East countries are also becoming more involved in recycling efforts. Some of these include Dubai, which has had a chronic waste disposal problem and is now in the process of “dumping its dumps” by becoming more involved in recycling both organic and non-organic waste products.
Even Gaza, which has both a high amount of waste products and a very small land area recently opened its first recycling plant and is now able to process around 50 tons of waste products per day.
Read more on recycling efforts in Israel and other parts of the Middle East:
Gaza’s First Recycling Plant Opens and Not a Minute too Soon
A New “Face” for Israel’s Garbage Park
Woman Tosses Million Dollar Mattress in Dump: She Should Have Recycled!
Author: Maurice Picow
Maurice Picow grew up in Oklahoma City, U.S.A., where he received a B.S. Degree in Business Administration. Following graduation, Maurice embarked on a career as a real estate broker before making the decision to move to Israel. After arriving in Israel, he came involved in the insurance agency business and later in the moving and international relocation fields. Maurice became interested in writing news and commentary articles in the late 1990’s, and now writes feature articles for the The Jerusalem Post as well as being a regular contributor to Green Prophet. He has also written a non-fiction study on Islam, a two volume adventure novel, and is completing a romance novel about a forbidden love affair. Writing topics of particular interest for Green Prophet are those dealing with global warming and climate change, as well as clean technology - particularly electric cars.
Maurice, nothing happens overnight. Now projections are that recycling is to increase about 3%-4% a year. That is why Israel invests about 20$ Mil. a year in regional recycling facilities. When this huge facility facility comes online, it will also take to 2020 to get enough separated waste to run it to full capacity. Meanwhile, I am sure there are plans for large but not that large facilities in the North, South and Jerusalem. progress does not happen overnight.
It will be awhile before this plant goes “online”. In the meantime, it will be “business as usual” regarding the disposal of solid and organic wastes.
Great news. This is probably half of all consumer waste produced in Israel. I just wish there were more info on how much energy will be produced to the grid. Actually it will be great if plant was energy self-sufficient.
I wish out local US governments were so environment friendly. In New York they decided to continue shipping waste to VA dump instead of aggressively building recycling plant because they thought it will be too “smelly”. Only now they seek proposals for “cleanest” recycling plant that will treat only 5% of all NYC garbage. Pathetic.