Hiriya goes from garbage dump to energy resource
THE NESHER CEMENT plant will soon use fuel derived from garbage as its main source of power at the facility near the site of a former landfill south of Tel Aviv.
Transformed in recent years from a landfill into a blossoming oasis, the former eyesore of the Gush Dan region now not only hosts hikers on its lush green paths, it also generates energy.
This week, officials launched a refuse-derived fuel plant at the Hiriya Recycling Park – a waste-sorting and -recycling plant at the foot of the towering former garbage dump. The project is the largest of its kind to date in Israel and will produce alternative fuel as a source of energy for the nearby Nesher cement plant.
“The RDF plant is an innovative, flexible and modular plant that serves as a successful model for collaboration between an industry that needs raw materials for energy, an urban sector that needs a solution to the waste problem and a technological body that is ready to take a risk despite the challenge,” Doron Sapir, chairman of the recycling park, said on Sunday.
The NIS 400 million plant will absorb some 1,500 tons of household waste every day, approximately half of the garbage from the residents of the centrally located Gush Dan region, or about 500,000 tons of trash each year, according to the project. The partners behind the facility’s launch include the Hiriya Recycling Park, the Dan Municipal Sanitation Association, Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises and Veridis, an environmental-services firm.
“The RDF plant is one of the most advanced and largest in the world – spearheading a steadfast and diligent effort of the Dan Municipal Sanitation Association to improve and advance waste management in Israel and in the Dan Region in particular,” Sapir said. “I believe that the combination of resources, technologies and the public’s willingness to change consumption and recycling habits is key to a sustainable future and the preservation of environmental resources.”
Using industrial and municipal waste as a material for combustion, RDF has become recognized as an environmentally friendly fuel source and is commonly used to power the cement industry, a statement from the partners said. The household waste is sorted using advanced technological methods. Materials such as plastic bags, other plastics, textiles, tree trimmings, cardboard and paper are burned as an alternative fuel source at the Nesher plant, the statement said.
The new RDF facility is expected to produce about 500 tons of RDF fuel substitute daily, serving as a combustion material that will provide 20% of the thermal energy necessary to operate the Nesher factory, the partners said.
“The cement industry requires long-term vision,” Nesher Israel Cement Enterprises CEO Moshe Kaplinsky said. “Heavy industry is often perceived as a polluter despite the huge investment in the environment and the use of advanced technologies.
“The RDF project aligns Israel with the most technologically advanced [countries] in Europe while reducing the environmental impacts of households in Israel and reducing energy consumption from traditional sources. This is another step toward realizing the vision of an advanced Israeli industry that views environmental protection as an ultimate value.”