Knesset’s Environment Committee begins debate on new legislation meant to set new mechanism for disposal, recycling of waste produced by construction sites
Zvi Lavi
Published: 10.03.12
The Knesset’s Internal Affairs and Environment Committee is currently working on new legislation meant to battle the illegal disposal of construction waste.
According to the Environmental Protection Ministry, Israel’s construction industry produces 3.6 million tons of waste a year, and 1.2 tons of it is dumped illegally.
The bill aims to set in place a mechanism for the disposal and recycling of waste produced by construction sites, which will be implemented by the various municipalities or by subcontractors.
According to MK Amnon Cohen, who heads the committee, the illegal disposal of construction waste in the public sphere and open spaces “Has become a virtual plague.”
The bill will mandate the contractors to pay for the waste’s orderly removal from the site via a levy that would include both the disposal costs and the pertaining city taxes.
Attorney Alona Sheffer, who serves as director-general for the Environmental Protection Ministry, said that so far, the ministry’s efforts to battle the illegal disposal of construction waste have been “nothing more than a drop in the bucket” as there is no legislation backing it up.
The ministry’s cost–benefit analysis of the legislation indicated that recycling construction waste can generate NIS 87 million (roughly $22.3 million) in revenue a year.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4285917,00.html