Strategy for a sustainable waste economy 2021-2030 - Moving to a circular economy in 2050.

This Strategy for a sustainable waste economy is a 10-year nationwide sectoral document that examines all aspects concerning the Israeli waste economy to formulate an overall strategy for the municipal solid waste industry born by a decision of the Minister of Environmental Protection to develop a comprehensive reform of the waste economy and, to this end, prepare a strategic plan to reduce the landfill of waste to 20% by the year 2030. The vision underlying the Strategy is to transform the economy of the State of Israel by 2050 from a linear economy to a circular economy that strives for zero waste. The main goals of the Strategy are (i) to prevent waste production at the source and reduce waste production per capita; (ii) to turn waste into a resource, while streamlining the use of resources and maximizing the use potential of waste; (iii) to reduce the dangerous environmental effects of the waste treatment chain.
One of the most basic principles in the management of a sustainable waste economy is the principle of the waste treatment hierarchy that guarantees the treatment of waste as a resource and gives priority to the prevention of waste at the source and from there in descending order to reuse, recycling, recovery and finally landfill. Landfilling (currently the main means of disposing of waste in Israel) is the cheapest solution for waste and especially for organic waste, against the background of its continuing environmental effects into the future. Therefore, it is necessary to gradually establish a landfill ban on waste streams that have not been properly treated, to ensure the exploitation of the recycling and recovery potential and to reduce the scope of landfilling. Since the waste hierarchy dictates a normative rank between the waste treatment methods, it is possible to design taxation that creates cost constraints according to the priority of the treatment methods, so that the lowest method (landfill) will also be the most expensive, the next method up the hierarchy will be cheaper than the previous one but more expensive than the one that is superior to it, and so on. Another crucial element is implementing economic incentives and applying the responsibility and cost for waste treatment to the waste producers in favor of maintaining environmental and distributive justice. This is by establishing clear definitions in the legislation for the responsibility for the treatment and the financing of the waste treatment by the waste producers and creating an economic incentive to reduce waste and separate it at the source. It is also suggested the treatment of waste near the place of its production on a regional basis to reduce the costs and prevent the adverse effects of transporting the waste, as well as for the benefit of developing a regional and competitive recycling economy. Therefore, priority should be given to regional waste treatment, which brings together several local authorities. A further step shall be promoting a competitive and innovative waste market to reduce monopolies and cross-costs in the waste industry, which make waste treatment more expensive, together with a recycling industry to create local solutions for waste treatment.
As part of the Strategic Plan for the transition to a low-carbon economy in 2050, the following steps shall be taken: (i) focusing on the treatment of waste streams that contribute significantly to the emission of greenhouse gases such as biodegradable organic waste and plastic; (ii) organic waste will be separated at source, and untreated organic waste will not be landfilled; (iii) treatment of the organic waste will be done mainly in anaerobic digestion facilities. In this way, the methane emitted from the organic waste will be captured and used as a source of renewed energy production; (iv) all landfills will undergo sealing and capture of emitted greenhouse gases, thereby dramatically reducing (to the extent of at least 50%) the emission of greenhouse gases from existing landfills.
Waste reduction, in general, and landfill reduction in particular, involves, among other things, changing the behavior of the general public on two levels (1) as consumers, changing the consumption patterns of products; and (2) as producers of waste, by changing the method of disposal while separating it into several streams. Two primary conditions are necessary (1) the existence of the physical means required for their implementation; (2) the availability of the information required for the public to be able to implement the change, as consumers to compare between product features and services concerning their environmental impact, and as waste producers are needed information on the options for separating and collecting different waste streams. Additional policy tools for reducing waste at source are (i) preventing food loss and waste; (ii) green public procurement by giving priority to the procurement of products and services that have a lesser impact on the environment given their entire life cycle; (iii) promotion of the recycling market; (iv) promoting innovation through technologies that prevent and reduce pollution and environmental risks and optimize the use of natural resources.