Yerukim Forms a New Green Economy Where the Money is Really Green

"green recycle project"Yerukim believes that money should be “green” and if it doesn’t grow on trees, it should at least help trees grow.

A new economic project is slowly growing in Kiryat Ono, Israel with a currency based on rewarding good environmental deeds.  Sound crazy?  It just might be, but it is slowly growing and it will be interesting to see if it really works.  The idea is fairly simple: residents of Kiryat Ono keep their recyclable plastic bottles and aluminum cans and call for a pick-up when they’ve collected at least 20 items.  Then they call Yerukim, who arranges for the bottles and cans to be picked up (and recycled) and for “green” money to be left for the residents in exchange.  Lastly, the residents can use this “green” money at participating businesses in the area.

These “green” bills then join what Yerukim envisions as a “green economy”, based on a currency of positive environmental acts.  Whereas the residents of Kiryat Ono could either throw out their recyclables in the trash or recycle them themselves in order to receive the monetary deposit, they choose to make recycling easier for themselves and also support businesses that value eco-friendliness.

The project was born out of a desire to encourage more people to recycle by making it easier for them.  It began very small, with neighbors helping each other carry their bottles and cans to the local supermarket.

Yerukim believes that in this venture, everyone wins.  The Yerukim members who pick up the recyclables get to keep the monetary reward, the public earns “green” bills that can be used in shops, and business owners get to be associated with environmentalism.

The environment benefits too, of course.

: Yerukim

Read more about recycling in the Middle East::
Lebanon Launches New Recycling Campaign, “Think Before You Throw”
Eran Hilerowicz, CEO of Koala Recycling Solutions, Speaks About Metal Recycling in Israel
A UK Muslim Reflects on Recycling Potential for the Middle East

Image via: epSos.de

Karen Chernick
Karen Chernickhttps://www.greenprophet.com/
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.

Read More

1 COMMENT
  1. Dear Yerukim Company,

    Sorry to tell you that you are BS this is not the way to solve the problems of Recycling of any Kind the Solution is doing a progrematic
    plan for the country under the UNFCCC / The CDM Procedur

    Sincerely Yours,

    Spiegler Dubi
    UNFCCC Expert

TRENDING

Dan Zaslavsky’s energy tower dream is rising again in Iran and China

The Energy Tower idea never made the leap from drawings and engineering studies to full-scale construction. But nearly two decades after most people stopped talking about it, the concept is quietly evolving in two unexpected places: China and Iran. The concept let dreamers dream and doers do - figuring out more pleasing designs and engineering.

A visit to Amirim, Israel’s first all-vegetarian village in the Galilee

Just 15 kilometers from Tzfat there is a moshav that was founded in the late 50s that was ideologically influenced by organic, vegetarian and vegan principles. My hostess at Ohn-Bar, the tzimmer where I stayed, explained that the people of Amirim were among the pioneers of Israel’s strong vegetarian movement.

Israeli Hydrogen Startup H2Pro Are Trying to Solve Clean Energy’s Hardest Problem

The company has attracted backing from major investors including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the climate fund founded by Bill Gates, along with industrial partners such as Sumitomo, ArcelorMittal, and Temasek, a multi-billion dollar company that owns Singapore airlines. H2Pro has raised more than $100 million USD and is moving from pilot projects toward commercial-scale deployments.

Desalination experts debunk Aqua Solaire, the floating desalination barge

AI makes it easy to dream, develop, and create images of what could be world-changing ideas, until the reality sets in. A new project making the rounds is Aqua Solaire, an allged French concept for a solar-powered desalination vessel designed to bring drinking water to coastal communities facing drought, storms, and infrastructure failures.

From Pilot Plant to Global Stage: How Aduro Clean Technologies’ 2026 Expansion Signals a Turning Point for Chemical Recycling Investors Like Yazan Al Homsi

The company's Next Generation Process (NGP) Pilot Plant in London, Ontario, has officially moved into initial operating campaigns, generating the kind of structured, repeatable data that separates laboratory promise from commercial viability.

Locals From Rishon Fight IKEA

Big Box stores are a pretty new concept in Israel, and thank God that not every Israeli city wants them in their backyard. A word from someone who has see the beautiful farmland around her hometown Newmarket, Ontario stripped and converted into vulgar strip malls of big box shops: they have no place in a healthy and sustainable town or city.

The Jewish National Fund Meets An Inconvenient Truth

According to the JNF, it has transformed thousands of acres of barren land into green forests in Israel. They state that each person emits about 23 tons of carbon per year, estimating that each tree planted can absorb one ton of carbon in its lifetime. That's a whole lot of trees you'd need to be planting. Could so many fit in Israel?

How to quiet noise from construction in your office

Streets need to be resurfaced in New York but the humming and grinding noise is unsettling. Noise is environmental pollution. 

EarthX and a blueprint for sustainable investing

Trammell S. Crow, a Dallas-based businessman and father of four, is focusing his efforts on impact investing, and media that focuses on saving the planet through EarthX.

Mining Afghanistan’s Mineral Discoveries Similar to Avatar

Now that American forces in Afghanistan are commemorating the longest period of any war that America has been involved in, including the 1965-73 Vietnam War, the recent discoveries of large and extremely valuable mineral and metal deposits may finally bring to light a reason to continue the presence of US fighting forces in this war torn and backward country.

From Pilot Plant to Global Stage: How Aduro Clean Technologies’ 2026 Expansion Signals a Turning Point for Chemical Recycling Investors Like Yazan Al Homsi

The company's Next Generation Process (NGP) Pilot Plant in London, Ontario, has officially moved into initial operating campaigns, generating the kind of structured, repeatable data that separates laboratory promise from commercial viability.

Nobul’s Regan McGee on Shareholder Value: “Complacency Is the Silent Killer” 

Why the governance framework designed to protect shareholders so...

Should You Invest in the Private Market?

startustartup Unlike public stock exchanges, which offer daily trading, strict...

Popular Categories