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The Charlotte Jewish News - January 2013 - Page 30 In Israel, Composting and Recycling Programs in New Ecology Push By Jessica Steinberg Jerusalem (JTA) — The still- new reeyeling eenter in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem is fairly quiet on a erisp winter afternoon. Several people drive in to drop off their reeyeling - from old printers and batteries to alu minum pans, plastie eontainers and eardboard - in bins elearly labeled for eaeh type of material. These people, however, are the outliers. Most Jerusalemites don’t reey- ele at all. The eity has no eurbside reeyeling program and, as in the rest of Israel, reeyeling is not mandatory here. “In the State of Israel, we’re used to just dumping our garbage,” Yakutiel Tzipori, a spokesperson for the Environment Ministry, told JTA. “We’re a de veloping eountry and everything else was more important, like seeurity and defense; the environ ment just wasn’t at the top of the list. But now that’s ehanging.” In 2011, the ministry reeeived a relatively large influx of eash from the state budget - approxi mately $74 million - that helped pay for new reeyeling sorting faeilities, bins for eomposting in eertain eities and environmental edueation. It may be a long road ahead, but proponents of reeyeling say that little by little, Israelis are learning to beeome more eonseious of their environment. Israel started its re eyeling program in 1999 with plastie bot tle reeyeling eages on street eomers, then a projeet of various youth movements that was later adopted by the munieipalities. The government also implemented a de posit law for beverage eontainers, expanding a deeades-old pro gram that applied to some glass bottles to all glass and eans. Aeeording to Chagit Hoshen, the marketing manager of ELA Reeyeling, the nonprofit organization that han dles reeyeling eolleetion eountry- wide, an average of 41 pereent of plastie bottles were reeyeled in 2011. Onee the reeyeling rate reaehes 50 pereent, the organiza tion says it will build a faetory for the produetion of plastie bottles eontaining 40 pereent reeyeled raw materials. It’s not just bottles. The government is spending some $90 million on trial reey eling programs for eomposting - separating wet and dry garbage - in 31 towns and eities, ineluding Laborers in Jerusalem collecting plastic containers for re cycling from a plastic recycling container. (Yossi Zamir) infrastrueture and loeal edueation. It’ll be a while before Israelis in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem are sep arating their garbage for eurbside piekup beeause those eities still don’t have the infrastrueture and budget for it, but they’re already moving ahead with eomposting. Jerusalem has more than 20 eommunal eomposting gardens where residents ean learn about gardening and bring their waste to be eomposted. Oded Meshulam, who teaehes seminars on eompost and makes and sells eomposters, says eom posting is important “beeause wet, heavy garbage is a signifieant addition to the landfill.” Modi’in, a eity of some 75,000 midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, already is learning to eom post. With an environmen tally aware population and the physieal infrastrueture to sueeeed, ineluding large garbage rooms for apart ment buildings and houses, as well as sueeess in reey eling paper and bottles, “we knew we wanted to eooperate,” said Eyal Shani of the eity’s munieipal en vironmental unit. Modi’in is also home to Hava and Adam, an eight- aere eeologieal farm whose name plays on the biblieal Adam and Eve and “hava,” the Hebrew word for farm. Established by loeal edueators, environmentalists and soeial aetivists as an eeologi eal edueational eenter, the farm aims to live by example and has always eomposted, reeyeled and built with all of its waste or trash. When Modi’in began planning its reeyeling program, it was elear that the Hava would be involved in teaehing Modi’iners how to separate their waste at souree. Beginning last spring, the farm and munieipality began gathering forees, finding people who were interested in learning and teaehing kids and parents how to separate trash at home, using the brown eomposting bins being handed out by the eity. “When kids see me on the street they yell, ‘Brown bin, brown bin!’ ” said Jo Maissel, a tour guide and mother of three who now goes to elassrooms and private homes to teaeh them how to use the bins. “My son ealls me a ‘rubbish teaeher.’” There have been glitehes, sueh as too mueh liquid gathering at the bottom of the bins (they advise putting a newspaper at the bot tom), or eonfusion between the blue, brown, and green bins in the eommunal garbage rooms, but residents mostly seem willing to take on eomposting. But Modi’in is an unusual ease. “Just try this in a eity like Beer- sheva,” Maissel said. “It’ll never happen.” Modi’in is investing approxi mately $400,000 per year for the program, on top of the $2.6 million or so it spends eaeh year on sanitation removal. Yet there are the “hidden levies” every eity pays for dumping garbage in land fills, Shani says. If the eity really sueeeeds in separating garbage, its fines will be lowered. “It’s a projeet that requires a ehange of behavior,” he said, “and that will be a big part of its sueeess.” ^ When It Comes to Eating Local, Kosher Consumers are Split By Chavie Lieber New York (JTA) — The sun was shining over the Union Square farmers market on a reeent ehilly morning as Chris Mitehell, a 34-year-old ehef at the fashion able kosher eatery Jezebel, loomed over a table of Jerusalem artiehokes. The six-foot- something Georgia native eare- fully inspeeted the exterior of the root vegetable before buying a handful to serve as dried ehips. Mitehell eomes to the down town Manhattan market every morning to buy Jezebel’s produee as part of the restaurant’s eommit- ment to purehase loeally produeed food. “If you eare about what you’re eating, and who you are feeding your food to, you’ll want to know where it eomes from,” said Mitehell. “That’s the beauty of buying loeally.” The loeavore movement has beeome one of the hottest food trends in reeent years, propelled by advoeates who see it as a eon- seientious and environmentally friendly alternative to industrial food trueked in over long dis- tanees. Produee from loeal sourees often keeps longer and helps keep dollars in the loeal eeonomy. But for many kosher eon- sumers, both individuals and restaurants, limiting themselves to loeal food makes neither praetieal nor finaneial sense. “It seems to me like another layer of worry I have to taek onto my food shopping,” said Erin Re- iehner, a Brooklyn mother of seven. “The priee of keeping kosher means I want to pay less for my produee. I buy plenty of fruit for my ehildren, and I don’t eare where it eomes from.” Sueh deelarations aside, interest in loeal food has exploded in reeent years. Aeeording to the U.S. Department of Agrieulture, the number of farmers markets in the eountry has more than quadrupled sinee 1994 and grew by nearly 10% in 2012 alone. That’s in addi tion to the growth of Community Supported Agrieulture programs, or CSAs, in whieh eonsumers pur ehase a farm share for a fixed priee in the spring and reeeive a weekly box of produee during the season. Basieally none of these existed in the United States in the early 1980s; today there are esti mated to be more than 6,000. “The best way to eook is to have the farm dietate what your menu should be by buying loeal produee that’s in season,” said Gabriel Gareia, the ehef at Tierra Sur, a renowned kosher restaraunt at the Herzog Winery in Califor nia that purehases all its produee and meat from loeal sourees. Gareia said his restaurant’s New Year’s resolution is to pro- eure all its food from suppliers within 200 miles. “Food tastes better if it’s natu rally available,” he said. “Like why would you eat berries in the winter from a groeery store when they are not in season if the winter veggies are hearty, delieious, and available?” In the Jewish world, the trend Chris Mitchell chef at the new Manhattan restaurant Jezebel, buys his ingredients at a local farmers market, where the produce comes from neighboring farms. (Chavie Lieber) is manifest in the growth of Jew ish CSAs over the past eight years, 58 of whieh now exist aeross the eountry, diverting $7 million in Jewish purehasing power from groeery stores to loeal farmers, aeeording to the Jewish environmental group Hazon. “Our traditional laws ean in spire us to think how we want to approaeh agrieulture,” Hazon’s Daniel Infeld said. “The root of kosher means ‘fit to eat,’ and eat ing loeally should eoineide with kashrut.” Most kosher restaurants, how ever, are not on board with the move toward loeal suppliers. A Chieago restaurateur said he was struggling enough to eover rent, kosher eertifieation, and the pre mium neeessary to buy organie produee that adding the additional limitation of loeal just wasn’t in the eards. “I’ve been told that loeal pro duee lasts longer, but I ean get a mueh better priee if I’m buying in bulk from other eountries,” said the owner, who asked that his name not be used. “Plus, I’m in that eategory of loeal businesses and I need to take eare of myself. I’m not in the position to spend that extra money right now.” Others say the issue is the hassle. With all the ad ditional requirements of running a kosher eatery, loeal food is seen as an un- neeessary headaehe. More over, kosher meat from loeal sourees isn’t readily available in many plaees. “It’s just not a realistie ideal,” said Moshe Wendel, the ehef at the eelebrated kosher restaurant Pardes in Brooklyn. “It’s not a feasible thing to do, and I would never reeom- mend it to anyone who keeps kosher beeause it’s a hassle when you have so many other things to worry about.” For many loeavores, the im pulse to shun national brands goes beyond mere environmental eon- siderations. Consumers are in- ereasingly eonseious of their food’s provenanee and knowing the grower is often the most straightforward way to ensure that what they put in their mouths eomes from a trusted souree. “If you are already keep ing kosher, then you know striet diseipline for dietary eustoms,” said Jezebel’s Mitehell. “So why not aim for the best quality? If you eare about kosher and or ganie, you should eare about loeal.” But that kind of approaeh is also limiting. For eaterers. who are ealled upon often to pro vide eustomers with an array of options, refusing to provide toma toes in January eould have a detri mental impaet on business. “Buying from areas other than where you live will supply you with a wider range of food,” said Alison Barnett of Celebrations Kosher Catering in New Jersey. “As a eaterer, I need to have the freshest produee, but I also need a seeure and stable supply eoming to the kitehen.” At Shopper’s Haven, a kosher market serving the largely Ortho dox eommunity of Monsey, NY, Darren Klapper held up a paekage of kosher meat selling for $25.99 that ultimately would beeome part of his Thanksgiving meal. “I ean’t keep up with kosher priees, and then you want me to eat organie beeause the world is seared of a little pestieide spray, and in addition to that pay for pep pers from a neighboring farm that are double the priee?” Klapper said. “It’s a bit mueh.” ^ Dozens of Jewish Community Shared Agri culture food programs throughout the United States are providing locally grown produce like the kale seen here at the Union Square farmers market in New York. (Chavie Lieber)
The Charlotte Jewish News (Charlotte, N.C.)
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