A dispute between garbage truck drivers and a major landfill site in southern Israel is threatening to overwhelm numerous cities with household waste, as transit collection sites say they are struggling to cope and will stop accepting trash for sorting and onward transportation from Friday.

The Efeh landfill site in southeastern Israel collects some 60 percent of household waste in the country.

Truck drivers and the companies hiring them claim long waiting times at Efeh are causing them economic damage. Some trucks have been blocking the entrance to the site in protest.

The dispute is affecting waste transition sites throughout central Israel, Jerusalem, and parts of the north.

On Tuesday, Reuven Ladijanski, chairman of the Dan Cities Association for Sanitation and Waste Disposal, announced that the Hiriya waste sorting and transfer center, which it operates, would no longer be able to receive any more trash, effective Friday. The Hiriya center works directly with the truck companies.

On Wednesday, the........

© The Times of Israel