Despite environmental concerns, Israel’s new government will abandon the country’s tax on single-use plastic plates and utensils, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was reported to have said on Sunday.
This is coming after opposition to the tax from religious parties that said it unfairly targeted their communities albeit it is an apparent defiance of global efforts to reduce the amount of plastic waste that is polluting oceans.
Smotrich said his first decision in office is to axe the plastic tax as well as a levy on sugary drinks “as quickly as possible” after he was sworn in on Thursday.
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The country’s Environmental Protection Ministry has reported a 50% drop in the use of such plastic since the tax was introduced in 2021, and it will study Smotrich’s decision and its implications.
There was opposition to the plastic tax among ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties, which are strongly represented in the new government led by Benjamin Netanyahu.
A parlimentary report from November 2021 found that ultra-Orthodox families used plasticware three times more than the rest of the population because they often have large families and low incomes, with many not owning dishwashing machines.
Story was adapted from Reuters.
