Forty six local authorities, in which two million residents reside, havesubmitted requests for funding to separate garbage at the source, theEnvironmental Protection Ministry said Wednesday. The ministry has allocated NIS600m. to assistin the recycling revolution of which the 46 requests constitute NIS400m.
Source separation means separating garbage into "wet" ororganic garbage and "dry" garbage, which is paper, plastic, metal andother materials. The ministry program accompanies the Packaging Bill which wasapproved for final readings on Monday and which places responsibility forrecycling product packaging on the manufacturers and importers.
The ministry funds can be used for end solutions like transfer points,sorting stations or recycling plants but come with a commitment to move tosource separation within three years. Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem did notsubmit requests, but many other smaller cities, such as Arad, Beersheba, Eilat,Rosh Pinna, and Dimona, did.