By MICHELLE MALKA GROSSMAN
05/30/2016
With a budget of NIS 2.3 million, the program aims to get rid of garbage at beaches bordering the Mediterranean Sea and in Eilat.
Beach season this year will hopefully get a bit cleaner.

That’s because the Environmental Protection Ministry announced that they would extend their Clean Beach program on Monday for an additional year.

With a budget of NIS 2.3 million, the program aims to get rid of garbage at Mediterranean and Eilat beaches.

Since the program began in 2015, the ministry has paid out NIS 1.1m., although NIS 2.3m.

was budgeted. The program calls for better physical clean up as well as tougher law enforcement and better education to the community through formal and informal settings, as well as advertisements.

In a statement, the ministry said that although all public beaches and their cleanliness are under the umbrella of local authorities or the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, most locales have difficulties upholding this requirement. During the ministry’s survey conducted from May 13-24, only 37 percent of the nation’s beaches were ranked “clean” or “very clean.” That same number last year was 57%.

The survey also found that dirtiest beaches in the country were found in were in Eilat, Jisr e-Zarka and the Gan Raveh Regional Council near Rehovot.

Meanwhile the cleanest were in Bat Yam, Tel Aviv and Ashkelon.

The program hopes to be the first step in tackling a larger, global problem of “marine litter,” in which an estimated 20 million tons of trash annually are thrown into the world’s oceans.

Local authorities are able to submit requests to receive clean up money until July 15. The communities that are accepted to be part of the plan will get payments at least twice weekly during bathing season.

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