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food waste

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January 22, 2026, 10:53 pm
Holocaust survivors are still with us. Let’s make sure they’re not alone.
Tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors live in poverty. Remembrance must be matched with urgent action — now. Support Latet, Israel’s largest NGO fighting poverty.
By Gilles Darmon
People buying food ahead of Rosh Hashanah in Jerusalem on September 16, 2025 (Rachel Alroey/Flash90)
November 25, 2025, 10:18 am
39% of food produced in Israel last year thrown away, annual report finds
Households dumped NIS 10,785 worth of food ($2,915) on average in 2024, study says — 13.3% less than 10 years ago; 15% rise in cost of living since war’s start partly driven by waste
By Sue Surkes
Food rescued by the Leket organization. (Courtesy)
March 31, 2025, 8:35 am
Annual food waste amounts to thousands of shekels per household – report
Leket Israel survey finds nearly half of food lost in 2023 was edible, could have fully met country’s nutritional needs
By Sue Surkes
Some 4.2 billion meals go into the garbage every year. (Courtesy Leket)
November 20, 2024, 12:53 pm
New law will cut waste by requiring public bodies to donate excess food
Institutions such as the Knesset, ministries, the army and hospitals will have to let their leftovers be collected for distribution to the needy
By Sue Surkes
Sorting cabbages that would otherwise go to waste at Leket's center in Gan Haim, central Israel, November 2023. (Amir Yaakobi)
January 8, 2024, 3:03 pm
War-linked hikes in prices of fruits and vegetables worsening food insecurity – report
Leket Israel’s annual report says half of discarded agricultural produce is fit for human consumption and should be saved, claims imports only raise prices
By Sue Surkes
In this photo provided by NASA, the Earth and its moon are seen from NASA's Orion spacecraft on November 28, 2022. (NASA via AP)
December 27, 2022, 1:05 pm
Daily Briefing Dec. 27: Israeli solar tech on the moon & a new day dawns in Knesset
Knesset correspondent Carrie Keller-Lynn on last-minute legislation ahead of Thursday’s planned swearing-in; environment reporter Sue Surkes on revolutionized egg industry
By ToI Staff
Wasteless uses artificial intelligence to lower prices as perishable foods approach their sell-by dates. (Courtesy, Wasteless)
December 13, 2022, 8:28 pm
Dutch retail chain buys Israeli software linking food prices to expiration dates
By combining data, Wasteless can gradually lower the price of an item to appeal to customers, while maximizing a retailer’s margins and slashing waste
By Sue Surkes
Food rescued by the Leket organization. (Courtesy)
November 14, 2022, 8:45 pm
Israelis wasted NIS 21 billion worth of food last year, meal rescue group says
Leket Israel study finds country failing at implementing policies that could help feed 450,000 needy households by saving 1 billion tons of food fit for human consumption
By Michael Horovitz
An illustrative photo of organic waste for composting. (Maerzkind via iStock by Getty Images)
October 4, 2022, 5:30 am
In new push, government hopes to get Israelis to sort food waste from other trash
Draft rules to discourage sending organic waste from kitchens and gardens to landfills while incentivizing local authorities to separate at source, build recycling facilities
By Sue Surkes
The Hiriya Landfill Restoration Project, located southeast of Tel Aviv, Israel. Food waste dumped into landfill is doubly negative for the environment, because of the environmental costs of producing food. (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90)
December 27, 2021, 6:47 am
Over a third of food produced last year went to waste, costing Israel $6b — report
Document’s author accuses previous government of ‘economic folly’ for failing to create national food rescue policy during year in which 150,000 joined ranks of food insecure
By Sue Surkes
Illustrative photo of a banquet buffet. (KatarzynaBialasiewicz, istockphoto, Getty Images)
November 10, 2020, 12:49 pm
Food waste ‘could have funded a fifth of Israel’s COVID-19 aid budget’ – expert
Israel continues to dump a third of food it produces, says report by Leket Israel and Environment Ministry; waste contributes 6% of country’s global warming gases
By Sue Surkes
Jacob Margolis, front left, was joined by his sister Sophie, his parents Elana and Ariel, and other volunteers who donned protective masks and gloves in the kitchen of The Chubby Chickpea, a food truck company in Boston owned by Avi Shemtov, to prep sandwiches to give to school kids and others in Sharon, Massachusetts. (Courtesy of Neil Morris/ via JTA)
March 26, 2020, 3:36 pm
In the Boston area, 2 Jewish chefs team up to feed kids while schools are closed
Neil Morris and Avi Shemtov, passionate about reducing waste and curbing food insecurity, step up when virus threatens to cut off a source of nutritious meals for the less affluent
By Penny Schwartz
Some 4.2 billion meals go into the garbage every year. (Courtesy Leket)
March 12, 2020, 5:58 pm
Israelis throw away 4.2 billion meals annually, while 400,000 families go hungry
National Food Waste Reduction Day tries to raise awareness, change the way we look at food
By Sue Surkes
UBQ Materials has developed a technology that takes unsorted household waste -- from banana peels to dirty diapers to used yogurt containers and cardboard -- and converts it into a bio-based thermoplastic -- a plastic substitute (Courtesy)
September 4, 2019, 9:25 am
Sabra hummus founder says plastic is the perfect way to upcycle waste
Israeli company UBQ Materials takes unsorted trash and converts it into plastic pellets; it just released recycling bins in Virginia, its first product for the public
By Melanie Lidman
Participants at the Sadeh farm at Skeet Hill outside of London. (Courtesy)
April 25, 2019, 2:05 pm
Jewish farm plants a Garden of Eden in southern England
Inspired by her time at the Isabella Freedman retreat in Connecticut, Sadeh founder Talia Chain returns home to practice earth-based Judaism — and fight for the environment
By Robert Philpot
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