The Hiriya Recycling Park is a testament to Israel’s out-of-the-
box approach to greening the country. Just outside of Tel Aviv,
a half-mile long landfill was once an environmental nightmare.
Basically a huge mountain of smelly garbage, Hiriya wasn’t the
sort of place you’d want to live near, let alone visit. But
today the site is used as an environmental educational facility,
a natural bio-gas supplier and a transfer station. What’s more,
it will soon be the site of a family-oriented recycling park.
Doron Sapir, head of the site, explains that 84 wells were
drilled into the dump to capture the methane gas produced by the
rubbish. The gas is delivered by pipe to a textile plant about
four kilometers from the dump, powering the entire operation.
“We are an eco-ecological facility,” says Sapir, showing how all
materials are separated and recycled. “What is unique here is
that all over the world they are separating the waste in dry
facilities, [using a] dry process. These Israeli guys thought
the other way around