The Waste Landfill Policy in Israel: Economic and Political Perspectives

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The author examines Israel's waste disposal policy from economic and politicalaspects, a valuable research perspective. However, it is recommended that the author revise the title of the article, as it feels more like a study related to waste landfill policy. In addition, the data and conclusions in the article are not directly related to the final conclusions, and it is recommended that the author further study the existing basic data, and the red line in the figure is not indicated what it represents, and it is necessary to guess the meaning of this data, so the author should further improve and modify the figure and the related data.

Author Response

I would like to thank the reviewer for his comments and for the opportunity to improve my paper. In this revised manuscript , i have taken into account as much as possible all reviewer comments. My references to the comments are detailed below:

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Is an article that presents a relevant research. I congratulate the author for the initiative and for the results obtained! However, in order to be published, the manuscript must be completed and improved. The shortcomings of the manuscript can be fixed.

  1. The Methodology section does not include the bibliographic sources accessed. How were they identified? What were the selection criteria? With the information provided, this section is not credible, nor could the research be reproduced.

2. The Results section (titled 3. Findings) is quite disorganized and difficult to navigate. Perhaps the fact that the manuscript does not comply with the drafting requirements makes it difficult to read.

3. The Conclusions section should provide more eloquently what the future research directions are, starting from the premise that the presented study can be expanded and improved.

4. The Abstract section must be modified in accordance with the previous mention (2)

Author Response

I would like to thank the reviewer for his comments and for the opportunity to improve my paper. In this revised manuscript , i have taken into account as much as possible all reviewer comments. My references to the comments are detailed below:

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The work "Waste Disposal Policy in Israel-- Economic and Political As- by Erez Cohen gives a good overview of the last 10 years of waste management in Israel. The author refers to official statistics and a report by the "State Comptroller".

 

There is a scientific deficit to be criticized at one point, but this can certainly be remedied by appropriate additions: The author sees the government's lack of action, particularly at the Ministry of the Environment, in the barely reduced landfill volume for Israel and the only slight increase in recycling. First of all, I believe that the author is referring to material recycling. After all, chemical recycling is also one of the relevant alternatives. He should clarify this. But even more importantly, recycling is only a sub-form of the alternatives and only makes sense if it is already separated by type at the consumer. The actual alternatives to significantly reduce landfill volumes and landfill risks are waste incineration or mechanical-biological waste pre-treatment. The former supplies electricity and heat and can provide CO2 as a climate protection perspective, which should also be further developed as a raw material for the chemical industry of the future as chemical recycling. After drying and sorting, the latter supplies material for material recycling, can produce substitute fuels for cement works and power plants and possibly also compost for landscaping. Such a plant is being planned for Tel Aviv.

 

The political analysis of the reasons for the waste management failures seems plausible. However, Israel is one of the countries with a functioning separation of powers. A brief explanation of what role the judiciary has played or could play would therefore be desirable.

 

Author Response

I would like to thank the reviewer for his comments and for the opportunity to improve my paper. In this revised manuscript , i have taken into account as much as possible all reviewer comments. My references to the comments are detailed below:

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article identifies several factors influencing Israeli policy on municipal waste management. These include the impact of the landfill levy and the Cleanliness Maintenance Fund, government instability in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the positivist policy embraced by decision makers in the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and power struggles between different ministries in Israel. It is suggested that the authors could delve into how these factors have influenced waste management policy in Israel, develop projections based on a baseline scenario, and make policy recommendations to change the current state of waste landfilling in Israel.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The manuscript was greatly improved, and my recommendations for publication were taken into account and applied. There are still some non-conformities regarding the format of the manuscript, but their remedy will be requested, with certainty, by the editor.