A comprehensive policy on waste is required.
"The 6% of plastic bags tossed as litter onto roads and public spaces cause the greatest environmental harm," states a study by the Technion Institute of Technology's Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology commission by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
The study found that five billion plastic bags are distributed in Israel for free every year. It stated that imposing a levy on plastic bags would result in the use of alternatives, such as other types of bags, to the extent that the law allows, which means that a levy would achieve nothing, not even reduce litter.
The study said that instead of dealing with a single aspect of waste, a comprehensive waste policy was necessary, because levies, taxes, and other means that deal with less than 1% of waste cannot improve the overall situation.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 3, 2008
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