Israeli recycling video goes viral on YouTube

A new video highlighting the importance of recycling is going viral on YouTube, garnering nearly 900,000 views in its first week online. The short clip (under two minutes) features young Israelis combining extreme sport with garbage collection. You’ll be scratching your head trying to figure out how they do it!

A pair of gymnasts propels cans into an orange recycling bin with perfect synchronicity. A tennis serve Roger Federer would be proud of whacks a bottle into another.  Folks toss milk cartons off a rooftop and bridge for more perfect drops into a cheery recycling can.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/R552n3w8-B4[/youtube]

See a skateboarder jump-kick a bottle into another bin; and a half court shot sends a detergent bottle though a basketball net into its final resting place. The high-energy antics instantly make recycling cool.

The Tamir recycling corporation launched the online campaign to raise public awareness about recycling.  The company collects packaging waste from all of Israel; last year they produced a clever animated video to encourage children to recycle. Previously, they had launched a “superhero” television campaign to increase public awareness about recycling packaging waste.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/fR5laRDgNko[/youtube]

Israel has had a Packaging Law in effect since January 2011 that requires manufacturers and importers to take fiscal responsibility for all the packaging materials they bring into the market. Orange bins placed on streets by local authorities around the country enable private citizens to properly dispose of various types of packaging waste.

According to a statistic released last summer by the Israel Union for Environmental Defense and Migal, a Galilee research institute, over 300,000 Israeli households now separate dry and wet waste, representing a 400 percent increase in two years.

Tamir’s message is clear: no matter how you choose to deposit your waste, recycling is the future. Now if only Israel’s neighbors would pick up on that message.