These Israelis Are Finding Alternatives To Plastic, Here's How Their Efforts Can Inspire Indians

It's high time that 1.3 billion Indians should be on a war footing against plastic. There are debates about who should begin first. Should the government impose ban or should the people change their habits to end dependence on unnecessary single-use plastic. There are a variety of reasons why a blanket ban on plastic is not considered to be a good idea in India right now. However, there Individuals who believe that people should make the first move and prepare the ground for a successful policy against plastic.

They look for ways here and there that help them overcome this menace. A story about their Israeli counterparts is so inspiring that the Indians could actually learn a lot from it.

An average Israeli produces about 1.7 kilograms of garbage a day, which means about 612 kilograms in a year. But Or family, sometime back, vowed to cut down on trash and are now successfully doing it. Here's how:

Emil Salman/ Ha'aretz

The first challenge for them is to avoid using plastic of various kinds, that is generally ignored. This includes all out daily necessities packed in plastic containers or packets. Even the most essential thing, milk and bread come in plastic packing. And we all know how do we buy our fruits and vegetables. We ask the vendor to give it in a polythene bags. sometimes take an extra for the fear of tearing it on the way.

Twitter/Representational Image

Like Indian, most Israelis have hundreds of items wrapped in disposable plastic. After its use, it adds to the existing pile of the plastic in the cities. No one knows when and how it can be cleared. Some say never. Hence, pollution will have no end. In Israel, there is an expanding community that's trying to live without generating waste, or almost without it.

Jerusalem's Or family is one of them. They live a minimalist life believing that there's no need to keep needless items at home. Their living room doesn't have a furniture and their kitchen doesn't have containers and jars.They try to buy their food at take it home in reusable canvas bags.

Emil Salman

Their fruit and vegetables are delivered from an organic farm. They make soap and detergent at home. Even their deodorant and toothpaste are homemade.

When Shalom and Dasi met in Jerusalem, ¡°A friend said to me at a Friday night dinner: ¡®You are vegan, you ride a bicycle, you¡¯re a yoga instructor and you compost. There¡¯s someone just like you. Do you know her?¡¯¡± Shalom told Ha'aretz.

Their wedding was vegan ¨C and waste-free, of course.

¡°The only beverages served were wine and water, without plastic bottles. All the food scraps were composted,¡± Shalom explained.

Like the Ors in Jerusalem, Esti Hermesh, 33, of Ashkelon had lived in an ecological community in Costa Rica. When she came to Israel, she was appalled by state of the sanitation in public spaces.

Esti Hermesh with her partner and son in their Ashkelon home. | Ilan Assayag

The thought of being surrounded by trash led Hermesh to start a Zero Waste Community Israel website. It provides reusable drinking cups for events, develops programs to eliminating disposable utensils from schools, and promotes deliveries of fast food in reusable containers.

Ilan Assayag

But, she has her set of problems.

¡°There are things that I can¡¯t find in bulk: the gnocchi that my son really likes, tofu. It exists, but it¡¯s not very easy to get,¡± she told Ha'aretz.

There are serious efforts by people to make life easier for people who want to live without generating trash, even in plastic-saturated Israel.

There are stores in the country that sell unpackaged soap. ReFeel, is due to open in 2020. The consumers will be able to fill bottles they bring from home with oil, various soaps, cosmetics and cleaning products.

Europeans have been practising this since 1990s.

Meanwhile, an initiative, called Mimshak (Interface) is working hard for distribution in reusable packaging. The initiative has been a success since the Jerusalem Municipality adopted it and began providing funding for the non-profit venture.

This is truly an inspiring condition where people from all walks of life are coming together to make their country plastic-free. We Indians also form a diverse community like the Israelis, but have the common challenge. Saving environment must be our top priority and we should deal with it in our own way without necessarily following Israeli examples.