Some 160 local council leaders have warned Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that the country’s waste sector is “facing systematic collapse,” with local authorities underbudgeted, criminal organizations taking over, and poor, outdated infrastructure, including too few sites for landfill.

In a letter sent last week via the local and regional government centers and signed by each mayor, the council heads said waste treatment costs had hit unprecedented highs that the councils could not afford.

“The severe shortage of landfill sites requires the transportation of waste over unreasonable distances, leading to waste accumulation and illegal fires that cause severe air and soil pollution throughout the country,” the letter said.

“At the same time, criminal organizations have taken over large parts of the industry, turning it into an arena for illegal activity,” it alleged, citing “crime families that currently control a significant part of the process and exercise terror over its activities.”

The letter continued, “The lack of real investment in the construction of end-of-life facilities leaves the........

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