JERUSALEM, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Israel will set up its first waste-to-energy facility at a cost of about 1 billion new shekels (285 million U.S. dollars), said the Ministries of Finance and Environmental Protection on Thursday.
The facility will be built in a recycling park in the city of Ma'ale Adumim near Jerusalem and is expected to serve as the central facility for the treatment of waste.
The site will have an innovative waste sorting facility and an advanced energy recovery facility, where the waste energy will be used to produce electricity under stringent environmental conditions.
A joint committee for both ministries has issued a pre-qualification procedure for an international tender for the planning, financing, construction and operation of the facility.
According to the ministries, the project will be carried out in collaboration with leading international energy-recovery companies.
The ministries also plan to establish similar facilities across Israel, in order to produce an environmental alternative to landfill in the state.
These facilities are part of a governmental strategic plan to reduce the landfill rate in Israel from about 80 percent to about 26 percent by 2030.
