PRINT THIS PAGE At Hiriya, garbage is not a waste
16/05/2007. Source:IVCJ. Danny Sternberg
New technologies and an innovative Israeli company have transformed Israel’s largest garbage dump into one of the world’s largest and most advanced waste transfer stations comprised of a waste sorting and recycling hub as well as a green energy center, says the Israel Venture Capital Journal. In this article, Danny Sternberg, head of the operation for the Dan Region Association of Towns, Sanitation and Waste Disposal spoke with the IVCJ’s Rachelle Gershovitz about their plans for the future. Take a ten second quiz: How long does it take a leather shoe to decompose? How about a plastic container? A glass one? And styrofoam packing – the kind your computer comes shipped in – how long does it take for it to decompose and not pose an environmental hazard?
The Dan Region Association of Towns, Sanitation and Waste Disposal has had to deal with the above questions not once a year, not twice a month, but every single day since 1952 when huge disposal trucks carrying tons of waste would heap it on a mound called Hiriya. The mound reached a height of over sixty meters and stretched over an area of 450,000 meters.
The volume of waste was estimated roughly at 16 million cubic meters. With new public awareness as to the hazards of pollutants, underground water contamination, and dangerous noxious gasses, in 1998 Hiriya ceased to function as a waste landfill. Instead, Hiriya became a modern waste transfer station. And, with eyes to a greener future, the Ayalon Park, a vast parkland initiated by the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of the Interior, and implemented by the Dan Region Association, is being projected for the future on this very site. Danny Sternberg, whose background includes environmental engineering, biology and ecology, and who at present is the Engineer for the Dan Region Association and Administrator of the Ayalon Park, explains the latest innovations at the Hiriya landfill.
IVCJ: Which takes precedence, the landfill rehabilitation or the proposed Ayalon Park?
DS: The Ayalon Park is a long term project, extending over 20 or 30 years. It will connect southern Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan and Azur in the east to Begin Park in the west. Treating the waste, however, is our immediate focus..
IVCJ: How did Hiriya become the "focal garbage dump area"?
DS: Municipalities would like to spend as little as possible on garbage disposal, so dumping here was very cheap, something in the realm of $5 a ton. There was no incentive to go elsewhere. Ten years ago, when the Ministry of Environment demanded the closing of all dumps in Israel due to the danger of polluting underground water, all the dumps were closed and a few landfills were opened, always in places such as the desert, where there was no danger of polluting the aquifiers, or in places so heavily contaminated that it would make no impact on the surroundings.
The new landfills were built with lining systems and also monitoring systems, so that if a catastrophe was about to occur, one could avert it immediately. Once the dumps were closed, the cost of transporting the garbage to the new landfills jumped to $22 a ton. One huge landfill is in the South, called Ganei Hadas, located near Beersheva, and there is also Efeh, between the Dead Sea and Dimona. They are both approximately 160 kilometres from Hiriya. IVCJ: So instead of closing down Hiriya, it become a transfer station to these landfills? DS: Exactly. This was a deal the Dan Region Association made – we close the dump and treat the waste. It is also economic because we don’t send trucks with only three tons of garbage to the South. We send out big, covered trucks that can take thirty tons. But the truth of the matter is, I don’t look at garbage as such, but as a basket of commodities. Everyone talks about recycling, but the problem is that recycling costs more than landfilling. We spoke about $5 for illegal dumping, then $22 for land or sanitary land filling, but recycling can cost anywhere between $30-$400, depending on what you want to do with it! Setting up an energy plant also requires experienced people to run it, and not always are they available.
IVCJ: What is the part of Arrow Ecology Co. in the Hiriya renovation plan?
DS: We are doing alternative technologies for treating waste. Because we have limited space currently, we decided to implement experimental technologies and to decide which technologies best fit the treatment of waste.
What is amazing, and perhaps not very well known, is that the kind of waste produced is different not only geographically but also economically. A more affluent society, for instance, will have substantial packaging in its waste, or what is known as dry waste, whereas a lower economicstatus community will have waste of a more organic nature. Look at the waste and you can see the economic status of the community. The Arrow plant is really a biological treatment facility, and it handles about a hundred tons a day. It incorporates a unique biotechnical and hydro-mechanical technology. Huge cylinders break down the various organic components through several innovative methods to produce biogas and electricity. Plastics are filtered to one compartment, organic substances to another, and metal yet to another. Garden waste is another story. The waste is sorted into clean wood, which is sent for cutting. Tree trunks are brought to the Hiriya carpentry shop in order to be recycled into beautiful wooden furniture such as benches and garden accessories, each bearing a unique stamp: Made in Hiriya. They will be used in the Ayalon Park.
IVCJ: There were 23 court cases against building the Ayalon Park, and each time the court overrode the objections. Even as this article goes to print, you are waiting for a verdict from the High Court as to the continuation of the project. What is the importance of the park and who is behind the resistance to the project?
DS: In November 2004, when the plan to build a 2000 acre park was approved, a real estate group that leased the land objected on the grounds that without houses and buildings on the premises, there would be no revenue coming in that could upkeep the Park. We are talking about huge sums of money that would have been in their pockets had they used the land to build on it a small "city" of buildings. Our aim is more idealistic – we want to provide an open space for leisure, for sports. This is the last bit of green land in the area and we are fighting to keep it that way. I like to think of it as "the gate to Israel" because as planes land near Ben Gurion this is what one sees. A million cars traveling to and from Tel Aviv pass this area daily. We have also initiated many bicycle paths, which Israel is sorely lacking.
Another reason to build the park is to solve the flooding that occurs every year in the southern neighborhoods of Tel Aviv, Holon and Bat Yam, because of water not draining properly into the Ayalon Canal. We would prevent it by building several retention ponds throughout the park. The British realized this during the Mandate and called this area Crown Land, and wanted to use it as a draining plain, but over the course of years, nothing was done.
IVCJ: All this planning entails huge sums of money. Who is backing the project?
DS: Our primary backer is the Beracha Foundation, with a grant of $5 million for the planning stages. Also, The Israeli government designated NIS 50 million over the next five years towards the park's progress. However, without the Beracha Foundation, we would be unable to continue.
IVCJ: Tell us about the remediatory actions being taken towards the present Hiriya landfill.
DS: There were many hazards connected to Hiriya. Most ecologists will point out the dangers in the large quantities of biogas, formed by the decomposition of organic substances in anaerobic conditions. Biogas mainly consists of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2), both having negative environmental properties. But there was another, far more colorful hazard that could not be overlooked. Garbage attracts birds. In late winter, when hundreds of thousands of migrating birds from Africa to Europe would stop in the Hiriya dump and feed on the waste, and then again, in late autumn, when they would migrate from Europe to Africa, there was a real danger of an aerial catastrophe. Because of our close proximity to Ben Gurion Airport, we feared that the birds would interfere with jet aircraft. The airport was forced to install huge "booming" cannons that would scare away the birds. Once the site was closed and covered with dirt in 1999, this hazard was thankfully eliminated. But the environmental dangers still remained. Therefore, it was decided to rehabilitate the Hiriya landfill, to build a recycling park, a visitor’s center, and to try to turn the waste into green energy.
IVCJ: Shouldn’t that be the most important part of the Hiriya restoration project? Turning waste into energy?
DS: In other countries the government subsidizes alternate energy production. Unfortunately, in Israel it isn’t done… yet. There is a subsidy from the electric company, but it is very small. The Association selected Arrow Ecology Co. to treat domestic waste. The waste is broken down into its various components and the methane gas, formed by the decomposition of the organic substances, is used to produce environmentally friendly electricity.
In addition, over 60 gas wells have been drilled at the site to collect the methane gas trapped in the landfill. The plant generates all the electricity required by the Hiriya site and sells the excess to the Israel Electric Corporation.
IVCJ: One last question: you mentioned a visitors’ center. To be a bit blunt – who needs a vistors’ center at a waste landfill?
DS: For years the Hiriya landfill has suffered from a negative environmental reputation. The Dan Region Association aims to encourage a cultural and conceptual change that will transform how society views waste disposal. This year alone, over 20,000 students visited the Hiriya site within a special educational program initiated by the Association and the Beracha Foundation. In summation, perhaps the story of Hiriya seems familiar because it resembles remarkably the story of Israel – a country that has known transformation from its very beginnings, the changing of a desert wilderness into a green, vibrant countryside and thriving, diverse communities. Oh, and about the ten second quiz – the decomposition time for a leather shoe is fifty years. A plastic container – one thousand years. A glass bottle – one million years. And the styrofoam packaging? Never!
This article appeared in the Israel Venture Capital & Private Equity Journal (IVCJ). IVC Research Center publishes the Israel Venture Capital & Private Equity Journal, a quarterly review of trends and developments in the Israeli-related venture capital industry. IVCJ, distributed worldwide, is dedicated to provide wide-range coverage of Israel's venture capital industry. For more information please visit www.ivc-online.com
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