To celebrate Tu Bishvat, young Israeli artists pave the way for a greener future
Israelis use dozens of millions of plastic cups per month. The Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design is trying to change the culture on campus.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFStephanie Jude, Student in the Department of Ceramics and Glass Design at Bezalel Academy, smoothing the sharp glass edges using a horizontal grinding wheel at the “CupAthon” event, ahead of Tu Bishvat 2020.(photo credit: NOA GOLDBLAT)
The widespread use of disposables is very common on university campuses. Just ahead of Tu Bishvat, the Jewish festival of trees which falls on Monday, the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem launched ‘CupAthon,’ a new green project to reduce the use of plastic cups.As explained in a Bezalel press release, students were invited to join activities and competitions organized by the Department of Ceramics and Glass to create ceramic and glass utensils that were later sold for five shekels each. According to the university, 70% of the department students took part in the initiative and the hope is that other universities will take inspiration and follow suit.Green, orange and yellow glasses were created as well as ceramic cups shaped as the characteristic disposable cups used to sell coffee and other drinks by cafés and fast foods establishments.Tu Bishvat, the 15th of Shvat in Judaism’s lunar calendar is also known as Rosh Hashanah Le’ilanot, the New Year for Trees. Tied so inextricably with nature, the festival has taken on a more universal environmental theme.Partly because its averagely large families, Israel is a country with a very prominent disposables culture. According to data by the Israeli business information group Coface BDi quoted by Calcalist, in 2014 estimated sales of disposables stood at around $124 million (NIS 450 million), in 2018 they had risen by 51% to $187 million (NIS 680 million). The report added that Israeli disposables company WinPac stated that Israelis use about 250 million plastic and 12 million paper cups per month.
