New study reveals active reuse of by-products in businesses in Wadi Ara – but points to an urgent need for a platform, infrastructure and a change in mindset to expand the movement
By Maya Falah, Angle - news agency for science and the environment
Every year we produce More and more mountains of waste: More than 6 million tons of municipal waste and over 7 million tons of construction waste are produced in Israel each year. Each of us throws away an average of nearly 2 kilograms of waste every day. about 80 percent Most of the waste produced in Israel ends up in landfills, where it is buried in a controlled manner. This is a treatment method that is not effective in the long term because landfills fill up quickly and the open spaces where landfills can be built are limited.
So what else can be done with all that waste? In addition to the important options of reducing consumption in the first place and recycling, there is another option: going beyond For a circular economyThis is an approach that sees waste as a resource to be reused rather than a nuisance to be disposed of. This can reduce waste, reduce pollution and save costs: Businesses can receive raw materials for free from another business that has finished using them. New research presented In the 53th Annual Conference on Science and the Environment Examine the field of circular economy today in Arab society in Israel and examine how local authorities and the businesses within them can be helped to move towards a more circular economy.
One person's trash is another person's treasure.
The transition to a circular economy is not easy, especially for small businesses and communities that lack advanced waste management infrastructure. This is especially evident in Arab municipalities in Israel, where Waste treatment Faces unique challenges. Most businesses are small and not concentrated in industrial or commercial areas, there is a shortage of operational areas to concentrate waste, as well as a lack of connectivity and accessibility to recycling facilities. Today in Israel Costs Waste disposal falls mainly on local authorities, and according to authorities employees in the Arab sector, it may reach as much as 50 percent of the authority's budget.
The study, conducted as part of the Tripartite R&D and funded by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, examined three municipalities in Wadi Ara: Umm al-Fahm, Kafr Qara, and Baqa al-Gharbiya. To the surprise of the research team, the survey they conducted in the municipalities among more than 200 business owners showed that circular economy activity is taking place in these communities, which focuses mainly on the by-products of businesses. "By-products are a significant thing in the circular economy approach," says Dr. Liron Amdur, an expert in economics and agricultural development who conducted the study together with Dr. Ibrahim Yahya, Omar Azi, and Alaa Haj Yahya. "Every manufacturing business has the main product in which it specializes, which it produces and from which it is supposed to make a living. But the production process of this product is often accompanied by other products such as plastic waste, organic waste, and more. If we look at a bakery, for example: there are its products that are what it sells - breads, pastries, and so on. Their production process produces leftover dough, flour, and oil that the bakery itself has nothing to do with. So if in a normal economy we look at these leftovers as waste, in a circular economy we treat them as by-products, and try to think about what can be done with them, and how they can be used again or for another purpose."
"In a survey we conducted among business owners, 40 percent indicated that they pass on their byproducts. These are businesses that sell food and that produce a lot of organic byproducts, such as restaurants, bakeries, butcher shops, greengrocers, and grocery stores. It is very easy to find someone to use organic byproducts because there is no need to treat these residues. So, for example, you can pass them on to animal farms that are happy to receive organic residues to feed their animals. But it is not just about food residues - we also interviewed businesses such as garages that pass on spare parts, machine oil, and tires that can be repaired or used for their needs, and more," says Amdur.
For organic by-products, it's very easy to find someone who will use them. Photo: unsplash
"It's important that a change in consciousness happens here"
What surprised the research team was that while 40 percent of business owners said they pass on their own by-products, only 2 percent said they receive by-products from others for production and use in their business. "We're not sure what the reason for this gap is, but one assumption is that some business owners are embarrassed to admit to using by-products," says Amdur. "Unfortunately, most of us still have a certain reluctance to use by-products, something used or supposedly unclean. That's why it's important for there to be a change in mindset. There are many by-products that are perfectly fine to use. Some of them may need to be treated or processed in some way, but after that they can be used again as excellent raw materials."
"Another explanation for part of this gap, which is also an interesting statistic in itself, is that some of the by-products are not necessarily delivered to other businesses, but to private individuals," she adds. "Business owners told us that many private individuals come to them and ask for the by-products. For example, greengrocers or container shops who delivered vegetables and fruits that look bad, carpenters who delivered wood scraps for home use, and butchers who delivered dog bones. This is another aspect of a circular economy that takes place within the community."
Who wants my by-products?
"One of the questions we asked the business owners who deliver is: 'How did you know the person who is taking it?'" says Amdur. "Usually the answer was: 'He came to me and asked.' In addition, we asked these businesses, 'What do you get out of delivering?' And most of them told us, 'We get nothing.' In other words, the conclusion is that if you want to expand and support local circular economy activities, you must first identify the businesses that can benefit from the process by using the by-products that are offered and expose them to their use," she explains. In addition, "one of the main things that came up in the study is that even businesses that are aware of the possibility don't necessarily know who to collect from or who to deliver to," says Amdur. "They mentioned that it would help if there was a platform - on social media or a website - where they could keep up to date with which businesses have materials to deliver so that they would know what is available and where they can take it. Another way in which they can help each other, and which can also appear in the information system, is pooling resources. For example, one of the business owners we interviewed said that he bought a cardboard compactor for his business to reduce the volume of waste and that in addition to using it in his business, he rents out compaction services to other businesses. So things like that can also be encouraged and advertised for others. In other words, if someone purchases some kind of waste treatment infrastructure, they can "Offer this as a service to other businesses as well."
About 6 years ago, the Ministry of Economy and Industry, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, initiatedCircular Economy PlatformBut it was intended mainly for large industrial plants and was shut down about two years ago. "It's good that there was such a platform in the past, and we recommend that there be such a platform in the future for the benefit of small businesses," says Amdur. "In the research, we tried to gather the seeds of existing circular economy activity in Arab society and see how we can expand and help it happen more. We were surprised by the extent to which it is already happening, but there is still a lot of potential. This applies, of course, not only to Arab society. All of these practices can be implemented in many communities and businesses across the country, and they can help us reduce the amount of waste collected and save a lot of money for many businesses," she concludes.
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