Environmental Protection Ministry offers NIS 160 grant program to cities joining dry/wet waste recycling ventures; cities in periphery to be given priority
Billie Frenkel
Published: 10.21.12
The Environmental Protection Ministry if offering cities that join its dry/wet waste recycling separation program grants of up to NIS 40 million (roughly $10.5 million), Ynet has learned.
The grants will be given out of a ministry fund totaling NIS 160 million ($42 million).
Funding
The ministry is seeking to encourage cities to separate the household waste collected ahead of its shipping to municipal recycling centers, in order to maximize their recycling.
Wet household waste consists of mostly organic matter, while dry household waste consists of paper, plastic and glass. The wet waste in transferred to biogas and compost production facilities, and the dry waste is separated again and sent to paper, plastic and glass recycling facilities.
The appropriated funds are meant to cover the technical aspects of separating the waste, such as the procurement of trucks and containers by the cities, as well as for educational purposes and promotional campaigns meant to encourage the public to separate and recycle waste.
The ministry said that eligibility for the grants will be determined according to how many households in each city participate in the program and the duration of its implementation. Cities and towns in the periphery and national priority areas, such as the Negev and the Golan Heights, will be given a priority for the grants.
Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan said that “Cities understand the financial potential of recycling as well as the potential to benefit the quality of life for their residents, so it’s not surprising that more and more of them want to take part in the revolution we are leading.”
The Environmental Protection Ministry’s data suggests that 31 local authorities and 93,708 households currently separate waste. The ministry hopes to bring those numbers up to 1.5 million by 2014.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4294021,00.html