Greenpeace Exposes Import of Dirty Technology to Israel

["Greenbase" <greenbas@gb.greenpeace.org>]

GREENPEACE EXPOSES IMPORT OF DIRTY TECHNOLOGY TO ISRAEL 
US-made obsolete toxic waste incinerator now in  Israel 
 
Tel Aviv, 10 February 1997 - The Greenpeace 
Mediterranean office today called on the Israeli 
government not to allow the use of a recently 
imported toxic waste incinerator, and demanded that 
the obsolete unit be returned to the US immediately. 
 
The mobile incinerator that recently arrived to the 
port city of Haifa was originally built to clean up the 
oil disaster caused by the tanker Exxon Valdez in 
Alaska eight years ago (1). Israel has now imported 
it and is considering to operate the unit in the densely 
populated areas (unlike Alaska) of Haifa and Petach 
Tikva. 
 
The incinerator was imported by a company called 
"Arrow Ecology" under the name "TWIS" 
(Transportable Waste Incineration System) and was 
used in the US by the firm Advanced Environmental 
Technology Inc. from Los Angeles. 
 
Representatives of "Arrow Ecology" told 
Greenpeace that if they will not be allowed to 
operate in Israel they will send the incinerator to 
Venezuela. They also told Greenpeace that since it is 
a mobile unit it will not require any environmental 
impact assessment. 
 
Waste incinerators are a major source of toxic 
substances like dioxin and furans. Incinerators  
are no longer accepted in most of the developed 

world. 300 incineration projects were canceled in the 
US only in the last decade. Now the incineration 
industry is seeking new markets in the developing 
world. 
 
The imported obsolete incinerator is aimed for 
contaminated soil. Cleaner alternatives to detoxify 
contaminated soil exist and are in operation. One 
known example is the technology called "Eco-Logic" 
(2). 
 
"Waste incinerators are extremely dangerous under 
all circumstances," said Ory Zik, the Greenpeace 
Mediterranean campaigner in Israel. "To operate this 
obsolete incinerator in a populated area, is simply a 
scandal. Greenpeace intends to use all peaceful 
means to prevent the operation of this dirty device, in 
Israel or in any other country." 
 

Israel has a pressing industrial and household waste 
problem. Currently all household waste is landfilled, 
recycling is minimal (less than 5%) and the scientific 
prediction is that in 10 years time there will be no 
landfill space.  About 50,000 tons of toxic industrial 
waste is dumped in the Negev in Ramat Hovav 
where it contaminates the air, soil and ground water. 
  
Next summer, the authorities plan to use the 
hazardous technology of toxic waste incineration  in 
Ramat Hovav (2). 
 
Greenpeace has been campaigning against Ramat 
Hovav and the incinerator that is planned there since 
early last year. The incinerator projects will just 
create more problems and will be a counter-incentive 
to environmental solutions. The long term solution to 
the problem is to minimize the amount of toxic 
materials in industrial processes, and immediately 
adopt a  national clean production policy.  
 
For more information please contact: Greenpeace 
Mediterranean, Israel Campaign: Ory Zik, Tirtsa 
Kisch, ++972-3-5102079, ++972-52433694; 
Headquarters in Malta: Dr. Mario Damato, 
Executive Director, +356-803484. emails:  
ory.zik@green2.greenpeace.org 
greenpeace.mediterranean@green2.greenpeace.org 
 
NOTES: 
 
(1) On March 24, 1989, the tanker T/V Exxon 
Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef in Prince William 
Sound, Alaska. It spilled almost eleven million 
gallons of crude oil. The disaster was the largest 
tanker spill in the United States=92 history. 
 
(2) Abstract of Greenpeace report: Hazardous Waste 
In Israel: Ramat-Hovav or Clean  Production 
(released July 1996): This report summarizes the 
problem of hazardous waste in Israel, with a focus on 
Ramat Hovav and the waste incineration which is 
planned there. The Israeli law demands that all the 
hazardous waste that is produced in the country be 
transferred to the hazardous waste disposal site in 
Ramat Hovav. The toxic organic waste is piling up, 
waiting for incineration. Most of this waste can be 
detoxified via existing non-incineration technologies. 
The incinerator intended for Ramat Hovav is now 
being built in the US. This incinerator is part of a 
"wave" of similar projects in SE Asia, Eastern 
Europe and the SE Mediterranean.  
 
As in the Israeli case, these projects are usually 
promoted by western corporations that can  
no longer sell incineration technologies in their own 
countries.  Waste incineration is recognized as a 
major global source of toxic substances such as 
dioxins and furans. The alternative is a preventive 
strategy in the framework of clean production. The  
implementation of this approach should start with a 
governmental policy as exemplified in  
some western precedents. 

Israel is a country with limited natural resources and 
relatively developed human resources. Therefore it is 
a prototype of a country that can adopt clean  
production, yet we witness a policy that turn the 
Negev mountain into a toxic sacrifice zone.