Emissions of pollutants into the air reduced up to 62% between 2012 and 2017

The Ministry of Environmental Protection published the Environmental Pollution Emission Report on Tuesday, which is published every year and is the sixth year of its publication.
The ministry published the trends in emissions of pollutants into the air, water sources and the sea and land. In the coming days, the rating of the polluting plants will be perceived. The report published today shows a positive general picture of pollutant emissions in 2017 compared with the previous year.
In the area of ​​air pollution, the report notes reductions of up to 62% in emissions of pollutants into the air between 2012 and 2017. This is due to the requirements of the Ministry of Environmental Protection in the emission permits of the plants, as well as the increase in the use of natural gas and the reduction of the use of coal for electricity generation.
In the Haifa Bay alone, emissions of air pollutants from the industry were reduced by 29% in 2017 compared to the previous year. One of the reasons for this is the shutdown of the Haifa Chemicals plant after the ammonia tank was closed.
The shutting down of the plant also had a positive effect on the discharge of effluents into streams, which created an artificial picture of a 46% reduction in total discharge to rivers compared with 2016.
The report presents an increase of 6% in the rate of recycled municipal waste in the past two years, and a mere 2% increase in the amount of waste sent for landfills in the past three years.
However, the Ministry of Environmental Protection admits that the emission of suspected or known carcinogens reported to them rose by 1% in 2017. Only at the Haifa refinery plant there was an 18% increase in the emissions of substances suspected or known as carcinogens. "Despite the fact that the State of Israel has taken some steps to reduce pollution, the emissions of nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides per capita in Israel are still higher than those in most of the European Union countries. "Say the Ministry of Environmental Protection.