Palestinians use recycling as Israel's restrictions trigger a trash crisis

The heightened restrictions on movement make every aspect of life more difficult for the 3.4 million Palestinians living in the West Bank, in particular the collection and disposal of garbage. Eleanor Beardsley/NPR hide caption toggle caption Eleanor Beardsley/NPR RAMALLAH, West Bank - In a dimly-lit cement block warehouse near the West Bank city of Ramallah, the start-up dreams of two young entrepreneurs are beginning to take shape. Several machines hum away as they sort, wash, dry, shred and melt plastic garbage – spitting it out as recycled pellets to be used again. "From waste plastic to raw material again," explains mechanical engineer Ibrahim Ghazal, who sifts through a handful of pellets from a bag weighing several tons. Ghazal is one of the co-founders of this start-up recycling operation called Scrapcycle Solutions. Mechanical engineer Ibrahim Ghazal is one of the co-founders of this start-up recycling operation called Scrapcycle Solution. Eleanor Beardsley/for NPR hide caption toggle caption Eleanor Beardsley/for NPR Friends since childhood, Ghazal and his business partner Faris Abu Keshek got the idea for the recycling startup after the war in Gaza started and life in this occupied Palestinian territory got a lot more difficult. The tens of thousands of West Bank Palestinians who worked in Israel before the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel are no longer allowed to cross into the Jewish state. …