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On February 2, 2010, Israel's Knesset (parliament) approved the new Deposit Law for Beverage Containers which was initiated by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The law requires the collection of hundreds of millions of large beverage containers and tens of millions of small containers every year. Shops and supermarket chains that refuse to accept the bottles for recycling are liable to a 1,800 shekel fine per refusal. Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan: "The new Deposit Law sends a real message to Israel's residents and finally responds to the public's demand for an accessible infrastructure that will facilitate recycling, as is the case in Western countries. The new law provides for the recycling of hundreds of millions more plastic bottles every year, rather than allowing them to accumulate on roads and nature sites or take up precious space in landfills. There is an enormous gap today between Israel and developed countries in the manner of treating this waste. This law, along with the Packaging Law that we are now promoting, heralds a revolution in the way Israel treats its waste and will position Israel on par with the global trend." Following are the main changes to the Deposit Law: - Imposing direct responsibility for collection on producers and importers: this will facilitate compliance with more ambitious collection targets, while the cost of bottle collection will be imposed on manufacturers alone. The imposition of direct responsibility on manufacturers will sever the link between the income of the Recycling Corporation and the collection targets, and will transfer the costs of financing from consumers to producers.
- Obligating collection and recycling of all beverage containers, including large containers: the law will apply to 740 million additional beverage containers. At least 50% of the large bottles, which do not currently require collection and recycling (some 390 million large bottles per year) will be collected, and the target for the collection of small beverage containers will be set at 77%, an 11% increase in the percentage of bottles currently collected. This translates into 490 small containers each year, compared to 420 million today ? an increase of 70 million small containers per year
- Significant increase in the distribution of bottle collection bins throughout Israel: manufacturers and importers will be required to place and operate 20,000 collection bins throughout Israel (compared to 8,000 today) at a cost of tens of millions of shekels every year. One bottle collection bin will serve 400 residents as opposed to 1,500 residents today.
- Widening the obligation to receive empty containers at sales points: the law will oblige marketing chains to receive up to 50 containers per person every day, whereas today, some shops refuse to accept such containers. The new law establishes compensation of up to 1800 shekels for anyone denied the ability to return a bottle.
- Canceling the possibility for reducing annual recycling targets: the law will prevent the possibility to reduce collection targets, as is the case today when the Recycling Corporation presents an application for retroactive exemption from compliance with annual recycling targets. The new law sets realistic collection and recycling targets. Non-compliance will lead to direct fines on manufacturers.
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