Israel: The e-waste bill introduced recently by Israel’s green advocacy group Adam Teva V’Din has been approved by the Knesset Economic Affairs Committee (KEAC) in its second and third readings.
The new bill stipulates that both manufacturers and importers of electronic and electrical equipment must recycle 50% of the total weight they sell annually by the year 2021. It additionally requires them, as well as importers of batteries, to recycle 30-35% of their products by 2019 depending on the type of batteries sold, according to the KEAC.
Both the Environmental Protection Ministry and Adam Teva V’Din praised the committee’s decision to approve the bill, arguing that it will relieve Israeli landfills of around 85 000 tons of electronic waste deposited there every year.
‘Despite the significant presence in e-waste of toxic materials, there still is no legislative provision for separation of e-waste from the waste stream,’ notes Adam Teva V’Din. Instead, private players such as Snunit Recycling have been filling the void in Israel’s recycling infrastructure by taking care of collecting and disassembling e-waste to some degree.
The bill won cabinet approval in February this year and is being widely promoted by, among others, New Movement-Meretz party member and renowned journalist Nitzan Horowitz.
