Israeli competitors scored several top prizes in this year's Young Reporters for the Environment international completion, including first place in the category for an environmental campaign video by students age 11-14.
A group of students from the Reut Elementary School in the Menashe Regional Council in northern Israel won first place in their category for their film, "One meal, a lot of garbage!" The film focuses on the issue of wasteful food packaging and what people can do to help reduce it.
In addition to making the film, the producers showed it in all the classrooms at their school in an attempt to educate the rest of the students. To encourage reduced food packaging waste, the students also announced they would be holding an annual competition to track the amount of food packaging thrown into classroom recycling receptacles. The classes with the least amount of wasteful packaging will earn points toward a prize.
The students learned on Sunday that they had won first prize in their category.
Yonatan Ben Lulu said, "It's an excellent feeling. All through the process, we felt like we had an influence and we were creating change."
Ofer Shai, who also helped create the film, added, "We learned to work together. When they told us we won, I was really happy."
Head of the Menashe Regional Council Ilan Sadeh said in response to the students' achievement that "environmentalism and sustainability are central principles in our council – and for us, teaching that starts in nursery schools and continues through elementary school. … It's no coincidence our council is the greenest, most sustainable, and even leads in recycling, in Israel."
The students campaigning against wasteful food packaging were not the only Israeli entrants to place high in this year's YRE competition.
Students from Darca Ramon High School in Gedera won second place in the reportage video category (age 15-18) for their film "Wise man – wise consumer."
Students from the same school also won second place in the campaign video competition for their film "What do you do with your e-waste?"
An Israeli-Portuguese collaboration titled "Red meat consumption – an international collaborative research" won second place in the international collaboration category for entrants age 15-18, and a film by students at Rimon Middle School titled "Dumped from home" won third place in the competition's Litter Less category for ages 11-14. "Brown is the New Green," by students at Ramon High School in Gedera, won second place in the same category for entrants age 15-18.
