Israeli energy leader envisions 'a world where plastic is not a problem'

Three prominent women technologists – Galit Sasson, Chief Operational Engineer at Mekorot’s Shafdan Wastewater Treatment Plant, Dr. Rotem Shemesh, Head of R&D and Customer Service at Carmel Olefins (part of Bazan Group), and Inna Braverman, Co-Founder & CEO, Eco Wave Power Ltd. – participated in a panel discussion at the Jerusalem Post Women Leaders Summit at the Google for Startups Campus in Tel Aviv on Wednesday evening.

Sasson discussed the significance of water recycling in Israel in the context of sustainability and agricultural development in light of the challenges posed by its growing population and minimal water supply. To counter this, Shafdan is recycling and treating it, thus enabling it to be used for agricultural purposes.

“More than 50% of our water demand goes to agriculture, and half of it today is recycled water. This means that we’re saving 600 million cubic meters annually because we’re recycling water,” she said. Shafdan is the largest wastewater facility in the country, serving 2.5 million people.

The use of recycled water has also presented additional benefits, she explained. Shafdan treats the water with a soil aquifer treatment that reaches the aquifer, is driven through wells, and reaches Israel’s southern region, where it is used for agricultural purposes. Sasson also noted that Shafdan produces 70% of its electricity through the bacteria in the wastewater, making it a sustainable way to operate its facilities. Finally, she said, Shafdan will soon be embarking on a program to extract nutrients from treated effluence and create fertilizer, which will be sold as an industrial product.

Innovative Solutions: Green Polymers and Clean Energy

Shemesh described the challenge of solving the plastic waste issue with green polymers. These are plastics designed for better end-of-life options, including easier recyclability, biodegradability, and compostability.

One of Carmel Olefins’s newest projects in sustainability is producing green polymers based on used cooking oil instead of a fossil polymer based on crude oil. “Recycling plastic is part of the Bazan Group’s strategy,” she said. “We have set some measurable goals of reaching 15% usage of green polymers in 2025 and 30% by 2030.”

The goal, she explained, is that a plastic food container will go from the garbage to a sorting facility, where it will be recycled into plastic pallets for reuse. “My personal goal,” said Shemesh, “is a world where plastic is not a problem but a part of a circular sustainable cycle.”

Braverman, one of the few women executives in the energy industry, discussed Eco Wave Power, which produces clean electricity using waves from the oceans and seas. “In August 2023,” she said, “we connected our first Israeli project to the Israeli national grid, which is the first time in Israel’s history that clean electricity from the waves is being used by houses so people next to the Jaffa port can operate their washing machines or the television through the power of the waves.

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