Drowning in garbage: Council heads warn waste sector facing ‘systematic collapse’

Some 160 local council leaders have warned Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that the country’s waste sector is “facing systematic collapse,” with local authorities underbudgeted, criminal organizations taking over, and poor, outdated infrastructure, including too few sites for landfill.

In a letter sent last week via the local and regional government centers and signed by each mayor, the council heads said waste treatment costs had hit unprecedented highs that the councils could not afford.

“The severe shortage of landfill sites requires the transportation of waste over unreasonable distances, leading to waste accumulation and illegal fires that cause severe air and soil pollution throughout the country,” the letter said.

“At the same time, criminal organizations have taken over large parts of the industry, turning it into an arena for illegal activity,” it alleged, citing “crime families that currently control a significant part of the process and exercise terror over its activities.”

The letter continued, “The lack of real investment in the construction of end-of-life facilities leaves the State of Israel with outdated infrastructure that is unable to cope with the increasing amounts of waste.”

Earlier this year, the state comptroller warned that by the end of next year, the existing landfill sites will be full.

The mayors expressed dismay that the draft arrangements bill that accompanies the 2026 budget does not contain the “profound change” needed to start resolving the problem.

Specifically, they point out that they reached understandings with Finance Ministry officials on new legislation that would include creating an independent waste authority and abolishing the landfill levy, both of which have been dropped from the Economic Arrangements Bill that will accompany the budget.

Last month, Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman told a press conference that the treasury had submitted its proposals for a waste-management authority without prior discussion, and minutes before the start of the Sabbath, when most officials had already left the office.

Charging that the Finance Ministry’s real intention was to get its hands on the multi-billion shekel Cleanliness Fund, financed mainly from landfill fees, she said the proposal ignored the complexities of dealing with waste and of involving multiple stakeholders.

Officials at the press conference presented the ministry’s efforts to create an improved waste treatment system — Silman’s flagship issue. A waste team set up a year ago was working with professional consultants, had reviewed practices in other countries, conducted extensive interviews with relevant market actors, and held meetings attended by the Finance Ministry’s budget division.

Legal amendments to improve the collection and recycling of various types of waste were in the pipeline, officials said, while dozens of sorting and recycling facilities were at different stages of tenders and investment. Legislation on building waste was moving through the Knesset, despite the Finance Ministry’s efforts to repeatedly request amendments, they told the press conference.