Where should you throw your trash?

By Kirsty Slemint

In an effort to dump its poor recycling record, Israel has joined the ‘green revolution’ spreading throughout the world’s cities and Tel Aviv-Yafo is no exception.

According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MoEP), Israel produces more than 5.3 million tonnes of waste each year. In 2018, the recycling rate was 24%, however, the MoEP hopes to invest more than NIS 4 billion to increase the recycling rate up to 51% by 2030.

To help the MoEP meet this target, and thus preserve our environment, one of the biggest things you can do is to properly dispose of your waste.

So where should you throw your trash?

You should first check your municipality’s website as every local authority has different infrastructure and collection processes but here is a quick general guide to get you started.

Orange bin: All packaging waste, including:

clean plastic food and beverage packaging

plastic bags

metal packaging (deodorant cans etc)

styrofoam packaging

coffee pods

Purple bin: Glass waste, including:

jars

bottles (that do not have a deposit fee)

Blue bin: Paper, cardboard, and cartons, including:

newspapers and magazines

notebooks

egg cartons

toilet paper rolls

cereal boxes

Brown bin: Organic waste, including:

food remnants

fruit peels

flowers

egg shells

toilet paper and tissues

DO NOT throw meat, citrus fruits, garlic or onion in here

Green bin: material that can’t be thrown into any other bin, including:

wet wipes

disposable diapers

dirty food packaging

disposable dishes and cutlery

Credit: Nati Shohat/Flash90

You will also find several bottle recycling bins throughout the city where you can dispose of your plastic beverage bottles (and their caps). Note: These bottles may also be thrown into the Orange bin (as above).