End of single-use plastic surcharge in Israel: a concession to the ultra-Orthodox

Single-use plastic cutlery.

Getty Images - Catherine McQueen

Text by: Sami Boukhelifa Follow

3 mins

At a time when the global trend is to reduce plastic waste, Israel is taking the opposite view.

The new finance minister, from the far right, has announced the removal of a surcharge on single-use plastics, a measure that had been put in place by the previous government. 

Advertising

Read more

From our correspondent in Jerusalem,

This decision seems motivated both by political reasons, but also by religious reasons.

Religious Jews eat kosher, just as Muslims eat halal.

But if halal is mainly about meat and ritual slaughter, kosher or kashrut is much more complex.

This is a strict dietary code, scrupulously respected by observant Jews. 

Simply put, meats and dairy products should not be mixed.

At home, you have to have everything twice: plates, pans, pots, cutlery.

Part of the dishes are exclusively reserved for meat, the other part for dairy products. 

And as the famous song says, “ 

 ”.

No more hassle with disposable plates, knives and forks.

Among religious Jews, especially the ultra-Orthodox, there are many large families.

They are fans of large tables and family gatherings.

Disposable tableware is therefore more practical.  

The new finance minister, at the request of his allies in the ultra-Orthodox parties, has therefore announced the end of the single-use plastic surcharge.

So much for the environment. 

 “We must not stigmatize the ultra-Orthodox”

When questioned, a religious Jew recalls that the ultra-Orthodox are a very modest community.

They certainly use a lot of disposable tableware, but also travel very little, do not have smartphones, and rarely a car, they travel mainly by public transport. 

Moreover, if the ultra-Orthodox are singled out for this excessive use of plastic, they are not the only ones.

In fact, the whole country is a fan of disposable tableware.

According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, each year an Israeli uses on average five times more plastic than a European. 

The plastic surcharge had reduced the use of single-use plastics by 50%.

It had been set up by the former Minister of Finance, a layman whose pet peeve was the ultra-Orthodox clerics.

His motivation was therefore not only the defense of the environment. 

With the return to power of the religious, the abolition of this surcharge is a form of personal revenge, but with a heavy ecological impact. 

►Also read: Justice reform in Israel: the President of the Supreme Court protests

Abolition of the surtax on sugary drinks 

In addition to the removal of the surcharge on non-reusable plastics, the new coalition led by the religious far right has announced that it will also remove the surcharge on sugary drinks, which are linked to an increased risk of cancer, obesity and diabetes. 

Here too the objective is to seduce the Jewish-ultra-Orthodox community, a large consumer of sodas and juices of all kinds, packaged of course in plastic bottles.

A double impact: ecological and health.  

►Also listen: Israel: the drift to the far right

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• Israel

• Environment

• Binyamin Netanyahu

• Religion

• Social issues