Local leaders warn Israel is nearing an unprecedented garbage crisis

At the Local Government Conference, municipal leaders warned that Israel could face a severe shortage of landfill sites within about a year, a development they said could leave garbage piling up in streets and damage public health and quality of life. Central Local Government chief Haim Bibas said the country is approaching the biggest waste crisis it has ever faced.

The issue was a major topic at the MUNI EXPO 2026 conference, where officials said waste disposal has become an urgent problem for every municipality. Tel Aviv-Yafo deputy mayor and Hiriya regional waste union chairman Reuven Ladianski said that by the end of this year, or at the latest by early 2027, there will be no landfill space left. He called on the Environmental Protection Ministry to approve new landfills and expand existing ones immediately, warning that if Hiriya cannot accept municipal waste, trash could accumulate in city streets.

Shoham council head and Environment Committee chair Daphne Rabinovitch said municipalities collect household waste and transfer it to treatment sites, but there is now nowhere left to dump it. She said the shortage has made disposal very expensive and pushed criminal actors into the sector. According to her, some groups avoid paying for landfill fees, take the waste to the Palestinian Authority, and burn it there, harming the entire country.

Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman said that when she entered office she found a difficult situation, with 80% of Israel’s waste being landfilled and most disposal sites located in the south, which she called Israel’s biggest dump. Local government is demanding a shift to waste-to-energy recovery facilities, and Silman said such plants will be built soon, describing landfill as an old and polluting method. She said the ministry is advancing a new waste revolution with end-of-line facilities that turn garbage into energy, electricity and heat.