The recycling of plastic appears to be gaining ground in Israel. This is what the results of a recent survey distributed by Israel’s central statistics office on the recycling habits of its local citizens in 2014 suggests. According to the study, 67% of Israelis recycle, plastic bottles especially. The survey has shown that recycling plastic containers for liquids even exceeds paper and cardboard recycling, equivalent to 52%, according to statements made by the people interviewed. The highest rates of bottle recycling were found in Netanya (84%), Ashdod (83%) and Tel Aviv (82%), with an average in other cities of between 69 and 76%, while only 48% in Jerusalem recycle bottles.
Survey data suggests that there are moderate infrastructures for managing separate collection of various types of waste in the nation. For example, about 80% of the people interviewed in the largest cities said they had separate waste collection bins near their homes. Again, Jerusalem trailed the pack: in fact only 57% of people said such containers were available to them. Although not well used, on a national level a deposit system has also been set up whereby used containers can be returned to supermarkets for a refund of the deposit. While today the overall recycling rate is about 18% of waste products, Israel’s Ministry for Environmental Protection intends for the percentage of materials recycled to rise to 50% by 2020.