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Hazardous Waste Export-Background

Waste export is a challenging field, due to strict regulation. There are international conventions, the Basel Convention in particular, that define exactly which materials are allowed for export, under which terms, and which treatment the material will undergo. In the past, there was an absurd situation where developed countries used to remove their waste to third world countries in order to get low “treatment” prices- while totally disregarding the negative environmental and social effects in these countries. The Basel Convention was signed by 133 countries around the world in order to put an end to this situation. The convention completely prevents waste export from developed countries to developing countries and determines that waste transfer between countries should be minimized as much as possible. The purpose of this convention is to prevent developing countries and third world countries from turning into the developing countries’ “trash can”.
As of today, in order to export waste, a long and grueling bureaucratic process is needed. A significant part of waste export is a correct and exact categorization of the wastes.

 

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Why Export Waste with the Sutok Company?

The Sutok Company specializes in waste export to recycling plants abroad. In many cases the treatment costs may be significantly lowered-by tens of percents. In most cases, the treatment includes energy return by waste combustion, but there are also other treatments such as physicochemical treatment, thermal treatment, solvent recycling, oil recycling to base oils, etc. The Sutok Company has a lot of experience in advancing the regulatory applications and works with the largest companies in Israel. In addition to this, the company works simultaneously with a large number of treatment companies abroad, so that the customer gets the minimal treatment cost.

 

Who is Waste Export Relevant for?

In many cases the treatment plants in Israel do not give an economic or environmental solution for wastes of different types. Waste export gives a variety of options for hazardous waste types for which the treatment costs in Israel are be high, or for which a proper treatment doesn’t exist, such as pharmaceutical industry wastewater, oils with heavy metals and pollutants, organic materials with salts and metals, chlorinated solvents, materials that contain pesticide residues, etc.

 

Waste Export in Israel Today

Recently a new process of examining the various limitations on waste export has begun. The option of lowering the treatment cost in the Ramat Hovav site has been considered, and another option that was proposed is opening the market completely, without any regulatory restrictions.
The hazardous wastes market in Israel is very sensitive to changes because of its small size, and because of this, the effects of new legislation in this area have been carefully considered.
The policy examination process has gone through many drafts and was supposed to be published a long time ago. As of today, the Ministy of Environmental Protection still requires the removal of waste and wastewater from the plants in Israel to the Ramat Hovav site as a default, unless the waste categorization is very specific. Preventing waste export from a plant and the obligation of transfering it to a specific treatment plant could be a heavy burden for companies and plants in Israel. In addition to this, as long as waste removal isn’t accessible cost-wise and information-wise, certain companies or businesses could be tempted to create a black market and break the law.

 

Waste export is indeed problematic regarding the transport of wastes and hazardous materials in particular, but it has many advantages, such as treatment effectiveness, environmental considerations, and its price in some cases (which is an incentive for companies to treat their waste). The waste export policy does consider some limitations if the waste is meant for recycling and not disposal, but there are still many common intrests in the existing legislation that look after both the industry and the environment.
 

The Ministry of Environmental Protection should see the environment as a first priority, yet certain interests prevent it from opening the market, lowering costs, and sending wastes to receive the optimal treatment.

 

The Sutok Company has a lot of experience in waste export, the company exports wastes for various customers. The company finds the most economic supplier for the customer and directly connects them and the treatment company. In addition to this, Sutok takes care of all the documents and certificates needed and guides the client troughout the process, even after receiving the waste export certificate.
This way the client saves tens to hundreds of thousands of shekels per year.

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