The Knesset approved in a third reading on Tuesday a bill to charge for use of garbage dumps, as part of an amendment to the cleanliness law, which is aimed at increasing recycling in Israel.

Fifteen MKs voted in favor of the amendment, and none opposed.

The new law has great significance in dealing with two of hardest problems affecting the waste process in Israel - the low rate of recycling, and the decreasing amount of land that can be used as garbage dumps.

	Advertisement

The low rate of recycling is due to the fact, among others, that municipalities don't have to encourage recycling as long as they can throw out garbage at an inexpensive cost.

Currently, 80 percent of waste is buried in the land - an overall weight of 5 million tons every year. However, even the small cost of garbage dumps- which do not reflect the damage done to air pollution, land, and water- do not promote fair competition of the garbage dump sites with recycling technology. Charging for the use of the garbage dumps aims to change this situation, and to pave a way for recycling.

The amendment, scheduled to go into effect in July, the local municipalities will be charged according to the type of waste, at a rate that will increase gradually in the next years. The charge for mixed waste, typical for a city, will be NIS 10 for a ton, and will increase to NIS 50 for a ton by 2011.