The Ministry of Environmental Protection informed Hai Pa News Corporation:
Even in the month of August 2023, the level of cleanliness on the beaches was maintained: 90.91% of the open beaches in Israel are rated as "very clean" or "clean" in the clean beach index of the Ministry of Environmental Protection; All coastal authorities in Israel received a high score in the index for the first half of August.
Idit Silman, Minister of Environmental Protection, says:
We will continue to invest in and support the coastal local authorities in their area of beaches that are not declared suitable for bathing, so that they can carry out cleaning operations on the open beaches, reduce the source of marine waste, and encourage the public to use reusable utensils and stop using single-use plastic utensils. We continue to run a program to strengthen the enforcement of the by-laws for cleaning with the help of Israel Police officers from many stations throughout the country during the summer months, and all so that everyone's time at sea is pleasant and clean.
Fred Arzoan, The deputy director of the national unit for the protection of the marine environment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection says:
A clean beach index for the first half of August indicates a maintenance of the level of cleanliness on the open beaches and an improvement compared to the index in the corresponding period last year. The office will continue to support the authorities to maintain the data and continue the trend of constant improvement from last year. Let's avoid coming to the beach with single-use plastic, and this way we'll keep the beaches clean after spending time at the beach.
According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection's clean beach index data for the first half of August 2023, 90.91% of the open beaches in Israel are rated as very clean or as clean - maintaining the quality of the index compared to 90.91% for the previous index at the beginning of late July and an improvement from last year's index, where 83% of the beaches were clean.
The cleanest coastal municipalities (with an average score of very clean) in the index for the first half of August: Nahariya, Meta Asher, Hadera, Emek Hefer, Hoof Hasharon, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Bat Yam, Ashdod and Ashkelon.
Fines for polluters
From July 1, 2023, the Ministry of Environmental Protection is assisting the coastal authorities throughout the country in strengthening enforcement actions to maintain the cleanliness of the beaches as part of the Ministry's Clean Beach Program. The assistance is provided through the reinforcement of the inspection force by Israel Police officers, who accompany the inspectors on behalf of the Coastal Authority in the inspection and enforcement operations, with the aim of creating a deterrent against waste throwers on the beaches and reducing the damage to the coastal and marine environment. As part of the enforcement activity, the polluters on the beach may be fined up to NIS 750 for throwing waste due to the high sensitivity of the beaches.
The coastal authorities participating in the activity
The 16 coastal authorities participating in this year's activity are: Netanya, Herzliya, Carmel Coast Regional Council, Emek Hefer Regional Council, Ashkelon, Meta Asher Regional Council, Kinneret Cities Association, Ashdod, Nahariya Municipality, Carmel Castle, Acre Municipality, Haifa Municipality, Tel Aviv Jaffa, Hasharon Coast Regional Council, Eilat and Ashkelon Coast. So far, as part of strengthening enforcement of cleanliness on the beaches of the Clean Beach program, 210 enforcement actions were reported with 422 police officers, 2,242 fines were handed out, of which 665 were fines in the area of cleanliness.
Clean Beach Program
The year 2023 is the 18th year of the Ministry of Environmental Protection's Clean Coast Program. Its purpose is to minimize the danger of coastal and marine waste in Israel and to act to clean the beaches and the sea according to an international obligation, for the benefit of the environment and the public in Israel.
More about the program:
A central component of the clean beach program and the bulk of its budget is directed to support the coastal authorities for the cleaning of the open beaches in their territories. The clean beach program defines clear result targets for the cleaning of the open beaches, according to which 85% of the beaches will be clean 70% of the year, with the aim of addressing the environmental problem of marine waste in Israel. In this framework, the inspectors of the national unit for the protection of the marine environment of the Ministry of Environmental Protection measure the level of cleanliness on the open beaches at the same time with regular notification of the coastal authorities for the purpose of monitoring and corrective actions for continuous improvement of the cleanliness of the beaches.
The support of the Ministry of Environmental Protection
In the years 2021 to 2024, the Ministry of Environmental Protection is supporting an unprecedented multi-year budget for the local authorities in the area of undeclared beaches - in the amount of up to NIS 26,463,253 for cleaning operations on undeclared beaches for bathing. A budget of up to NIS 6 million is intended to reduce the source of marine waste by establishing infrastructures to collect waste on undeclared beaches, collection facilities to prevent waste from reaching the beaches from surface runoff drains, supervision of the law prohibiting the use of single-use plastics on beaches and for the establishment of infrastructure facilities or equipment to encourage the use of tools multiple times
The support for the coastal authorities in source reduction promotes a commitment to promote a municipal by-law that will prohibit the use of disposable plastic utensils on all PA beaches (both declared and non-declared), as is already the case in Eilat, Ashkelon Beach, Herzliya, Tel Aviv, Hadera and Carmel Beach.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection calls on the public to refrain from bringing plastic waste to the beaches and to keep our beaches clean.