A recent report on recycling statistics submitted to the Environmental Affairs Ministry is being investigated. The report was filed by the ELA Recycling Corporations, who is responsible for collecting and recycling plastic bottles. What they reported and what the proven numbers are seem to be largely skewed.
ELA is owned by the four largest beverage producers in Israel, Coca Cola, Mei Eden, Tempo and Jafora Tabori. Per the current requirements set in place by the Environmental Affairs Ministry, the ELA must provide a way to collect at least 55% of their plastic bottles, and is required to recycle 90% of what is collected.
The report displays that the ELA met the required recycling standards; however, when the report was investigated to verify these numbers, they were only able to show 10% of recycling taking place.
While the ELA has submitted a report each year, this is the first time that the government has investigated the numbers, having produced the ELA with a two-year grace period to ensure they were able to meet the required standards. Now, the Environmental Minister must ensure these standards are met.
Some potential problems lie in that ELA may be double counting, falsely sending bottles abroad and stating larger quantities were collected and recycled than can be proven.
The question remains – if they say 90% of the bottles are being recycled, and only 10% are found recycled, then where is our plastic landing?
