Government construction workers will be required to use recycled materials on jobs involving tenders for state infrastructure-developing projects, according to a new mandate by the Finance Ministry. Firms supplying recycled building materials will be given preference in bidding on government contracts, according to the new tender guidelines.
The ministry's accountant-general, Shuki Oren, issued the order on Wednesday, based on recommendations formulated by a joint committee he headed together with the Environmental Protection Ministry. Oren said the new guidelines will help build the market for waste recycling in Israel and encourage the private sector to operate in a similar manner. “I see great importance in promoting environmentally-friendly policies, and use of the tools at our disposal, such as contracts, to implement these policies at the government level.”
The move fits in with similar other accountant-general measures, Oren said, such as the promotion of solar power stations and energy efficiency in government ministries.
The amount of waste generated in construction today is estimated at approximately 3 to 4 million tons per year. Current regulated waste disposal facilities are able to handle only about 2 million tons annually due to the limited number of sites and their distance from the waste production areas. The extent to which local authorities can control the amount of construction waste generated in the field is also a factor.
As a result, waste is sometimes tossed in unauthorized sites, or open fields along the side of the road, leading to pollution of the soil and ground water sources, harming both the delicate ecological balance in the area as well as the animal life.
Gilad Erdan, Minister of Environmental Protection, pointed out that “recycling of construction waste has a high economic value at the national level. It directly reduces the damage resulting from building waste discarded in open spaces, reduces the volume of unsightly waste, and reduces the utilization of our limited natural resources.”