Environment Minister Idit Silman spoke today (Tuesday) at Channel 14’s Environmental Protection and Recycling Conference, detailing the dramatic transformation her ministry is leading in Israel’s waste management. She emphasized that upon taking office, she made a strategic decision to turn the Environment Ministry into a real growth engine and a leading economic-social driver for the entire economy, rather than a body that creates barriers and delays.
During her conference remarks, Silman presented the ministry’s achievements as her current term nears its end, expressing great satisfaction with meeting the ambitious goals that were set. The minister said the ministry is working decisively to take waste and turn it into a valuable resource, using the phrase “we’re taking the trash and turning it into gold” to illustrate the profound conceptual shift the entire system has undergone.
Silman also addressed the complex environmental situation in Judea and Samaria, making clear that the ministry will no longer tolerate the area becoming the country’s backyard. She stressed that the ongoing lawbreaking and illegal waste burning in the area can no longer be accepted, and that her ministry is working decisively through targeted programs to eliminate these severe hazards and protect residents’ health.