חשוב להפריד בין נייר ובין פלסטיק.

No it is missing. In Hebrew, חשוב + infinitive is a very common impersonal pattern meaning it is important to...

So:

חשוב להפריד... = It is important to separate...

Literally, Hebrew is just saying important to separate..., but that is a normal complete sentence.

להפריד is the infinitive, meaning to separate or sometimes to distinguish.

It comes from the root פ־ר־ד, which has to do with separation.

A few related forms:

• להפריד = to separate
• מפריד = separates / separating
• הפרדתי = I separated

So in this sentence, חשוב להפריד means it is important to separate.

Because חשוב often combines directly with an infinitive to express it is important to do something.

Pattern:

• חשוב + infinitive

Examples:

• חשוב לשתות מים = It is important to drink water
• חשוב לנוח = It is important to rest
• חשוב להפריד בין נייר ובין פלסטיק = It is important to separate paper and plastic

This is one of the most useful basic Hebrew sentence patterns.

In Hebrew, after בין meaning between, it is very common to repeat it before the second item.

So these are standard patterns:

• בין X ובין Y
• בין X לבין Y

That is why you get:

בין נייר ובין פלסטיק = between paper and plastic

English usually says between X and Y, but Hebrew often prefers between X and between Y structurally.

ובין is simply:

• ו = and
• בין = between

So ובין means and between.

In this sentence, it is part of the fixed pattern בין X ובין Y.

In less formal or more everyday Hebrew, you may hear:

בין נייר לפלסטיק

That is also common and natural.

But בין נייר ובין פלסטיק is perfectly correct and a bit more formal or careful in style.
Another very common formal version is:

בין נייר לבין פלסטיק

So learners should recognize all of these as closely related patterns.

Because the sentence is speaking generally about the categories paper and plastic, not about specific pieces of paper and plastic.

So:

• נייר = paper
• פלסטיק = plastic

This is similar to English generic use, as in Paper and plastic should be separated.

If you meant specific items, you could say:

• בין הנייר ובין הפלסטיק

But in a general recycling-type statement, leaving off ה־ is completely normal.

Yes. That is also a very natural Hebrew sentence.

For example:

• חשוב להפריד את הנייר מהפלסטיק

This uses a different structure:

• את הנייר = the paper as a direct object
• מהפלסטיק = from the plastic

The original sentence,

• להפריד בין נייר ובין פלסטיק

sounds slightly more category-based or abstract, like distinguish/separate between paper and plastic.

The version with את ... מ... sounds a bit more concrete: separate the paper from the plastic.

Both are good.

It can absolutely be abstract too.

In Hebrew, בין can mean:

• physical between
• conceptual between
• among, in some contexts

With להפריד בין, it often means to distinguish between or to separate between two categories, not only something literally located in the middle.

So here it is not about physical location. It is about treating paper and plastic as different categories.

Because in this kind of impersonal sentence, Hebrew usually uses the default masculine singular form.

So:

• חשוב להפריד... = It is important to separate...

There is no explicit noun here that חשוב is agreeing with. It is just the standard impersonal form.

If there were a feminine noun, then agreement could change in a different sentence. But here חשוב is the normal form.

That is normal. Hebrew often leaves the subject unstated when the meaning is general.

So חשוב להפריד בין נייר ובין פלסטיק means something like:

• It is important to separate paper and plastic
• People should separate paper and plastic

The sentence is making a general statement, not pointing to a specific person.

Yes, נייר can look tricky to learners.

In modern Hebrew, it is usually pronounced roughly nyar.

The whole sentence is approximately:

kha-SHUV le-haf-RID beyn nyar u-veyn plas-TIK

A few key words:

• חשוב = kha-SHUV
• להפריד = le-haf-RID
• בין = beyn
• נייר = nyar
• פלסטיק = plas-TIK

Both are normally masculine singular nouns.

So, for example:

• נייר לבן = white paper
• פלסטיק קשיח = hard plastic

This does not change the sentence here, but it is useful when you start adding adjectives or referring back to these nouns.

Not exactly.

• חשוב להפריד... = It is important to separate...
• צריך להפריד... = One needs to separate... / It is necessary to separate...

צריך is stronger and more practical or obligatory.
חשוב stresses importance or value.

So the original sentence sounds a bit more like advice, principle, or policy.
Using צריך would sound more like a requirement or necessity.