Approximately 18,000 tons of refuse were thrown away and
disposed of during the Bnei Brak Municipality Operation
Pesach. 9,000 tons were disposed of during the previous
month, according to a report presented by the Bnei Brak
Sanitation Department to Mayor Rabbi Mordechai Karelitz and
Deputy Mayor Rabbi Shmuel Levinger, head of the Bnei Brak
Sanitation Department.
Operation Pesach, conducted by the director of the Sanitation
Department, Morris Kokach and department advisor Albert
Vaknin, began immediately after Purim. Scores of additional
trucks, compressors and Sanitation Department personnel
manned two shifts a day. The garbage disposal operation
included widespread removal of refuse from yards and bomb
shelters.
Ten days before the holiday, household refuse was collected
daily, unlike in other cities where it is collected only
every other day. City officials have asked city residents to
remove refuse from yards and shelters no later than ten days
before the holiday, in order to facilitate regular daily
garbage disposal.
On erev yom tov, 55 containers for the burning of
chometz were placed in various areas throughout the
city, so that the burning was done within their confines and
so that pieces of chometz which were not completely
burned would not remain in the city. By afternoon, all of
these containers were discarded.
This year, there was also a Municipal contest for the
cleanest yard, the greenest lawn and the neatest lobby in the
city. The campaign slogan was: "We're all making seder
[order]." The goal of that campaign was to call the attention
of the residents to the importance of cleanliness both inside
and outside the home.
The first prize, awarded to twenty top winners, was a silver
platter, a gift of the Hadad Brothers. 50 second prize
winners received a basket of cleaning products. The campaign,
which was promoted on billboards, buses and by direct mail,
was positively received by Bnei Brak residents.
After the holiday, the mayor and his deputy plan to work on
new proposals for the city's refuse efforts. They plan to
determine criteria for new collection installations,
improvement of the exteriors of industrial areas, to propose
the acquisition of additional garbage bins for main streets,
solutions for the storage of refuse bins, the problems of
empty lots, and the placing of alternate collection
installations in the Pardes Katz market. In addition, special
emphasis will be placed upon setting up student learning
centers for education about environmental issues as well as
meetings in which environmental quality will be discussed.
The studies will be held under the direction of Rabbi Yisroel
Moshe Friedman.
