Landfills in Israel are overflowing with tons of waste, but much of it is usable food. The country, known for its innovation, still faces a wide gap between the haves and the have-nots.
According to Joseph Gitler, founder of Leket, the national food bank, Israel needs to rethink its culture of waste. Gitler noted that Israel is not the only country that throws away too much food, but certain cultural factors make the rate especially high compared to others.
“People want to show abundance. … We call it the land of milk and honey,” Gitler told The Media Line. “We want to show that’s the truth and that’s an accomplishment for a country that until 30 years ago was a lower-middle-class country. … Having food to waste is something relatively new.”
While food waste may be a sign of abundance, Gitler is committed to challenging the notion that wastefulness is an inevitable byproduct of prosperity.
“I’m thankful that Leket is fighting it and is rescuing that food to feed the poor,” Gitler explained. “I think there’s a better middle ground that we could find where there’s less waste, but also enough food left over that we can also take care of those in need.”
Addressing the fact that 400,000 families in the country are struggling with food security, Gitler said Israel has a sufficient supply of healthy food to ensure every household has enough to eat.
Israel could feed the entire country
“A Western country like Israel … has the right food mix to feed its entire population properly. We don’t need to feed junk to those in need,” Gitler said. “So it’s a real scandal when healthy, safe, nutritious fruits and vegetables and cooked meals just end up in landfills when they could take care of the poor.”
Processed food is sometimes less expensive than the raw materials, but it is less healthy, and Gitler explains that this is why “we have focused our energies over the years solely on healthy, nutritious food, because that’s what’s needed.”
This focus is a challenge, given the organization’s budget constraints. Still, Leket must strive to “get the most bang for the buck nutritionally, and of course, efficiently as well,” Gitler said.
When asked where food waste occurs, whether in restaurants, among individuals, or due to overbuying, Gitler identified the home as the place where 50% of usable food is discarded.
“That is a cultural issue that needs to change. That’s an educational issue that needs to change,” Gitler declared. “And people need to pay attention to their pocketbook. It’s just that’s money literally leaving your pocket and going in the garbage, which I find so painful.”
Recently, a Leket report revealed that 40% of food in Israel is wasted. Gitler compared throwing away food to other harmful habits, such as smoking.
“It’s kind of like someone who smokes, and they want to quit smoking. Sometimes the secret is explaining to them, ‘Do you know you could have bought a second apartment if you hadn’t smoked all those years? It’s kind of the same with food waste.”
Even so, there are a few bright spots; he noted that a recent report showed a 10% drop in food waste in Israeli households. Gitler clarified that the per-person rate of food waste has dropped slightly.
Nevertheless, population growth signals that the overall trend of food waste will continue, along with the increase in restaurants, caterers, and corporate cafeterias, which can prepare up to 30% more food than needed out of fear of running out for customers.
Leket is combating the problem by rescuing surplus food that would otherwise end up in the dumpster and recovering 15,000 meals a day.
Gitler points to farming as Leket’s largest project, “because that is what really feeds the State of Israel.” The organization strives for “a middle ground of trying to keep farmers in business, make sure they profit, but on the other hand, keeping prices in an expensive country affordable to the poor.”
These efforts are often met with opposition from both sides of the equation. Gitler describes “a constant challenge … with no great answers from the government. … Every time the weight tilts toward one, someone starts fighting, and someone starts blaming each other.”
Despite the problems, Gitler announced that Leket has expanded its farming project and aims to rescue “35,000 [metric] tons, about 75 million pounds of fruits and vegetables” that would otherwise have been plowed under or left to rot on trees or the ground.
The produce is delivered to 350 agencies around the country and will feed 400,000 needy Israelis every week.
When asked about the government’s role in resolving the problem of food waste, Gitler said he would give it credit for passing two laws: one that protects food donors from legal liability and another, passed 18 months ago, that requires government entities to make an effort to donate excess food.
“We’ve seen a big uptick from government entities in Israel donating food. So that’s something. It’s hard,” Gitler said. “No one ever wants to say anything nice about the government, but let’s give them something.”
Asked about remarks by Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman that not enough was being done about food waste, Gitler responded that solutions must include “carrots and … sticks.” He outlined one approach for the retail sector, which discards large quantities of food.
He noted that collecting from retailers is difficult because “it’s store by store,” unlike working with a single farmer. He said governments can require retailers to make “best efforts” to donate excess food and impose fines if they fail, citing France as an example.
Alternatively, he said incentives could work: “Give them greater incentives to donate their food, bigger tax breaks,” similar to countries like Mexico.
He added that Israel could adopt a program like the one used in the United States, where the government purchases surplus crops to support poor communities.
He warned that any such policy must avoid encouraging farmers to grow products unsuitable for Israel’s climate or cost structure, pointing out that “water is expensive here” and that desalination solved shortages “at a great environmental and financial cost.”
Gitler also said Israel must balance imported crops with the need to keep local farmers in business, calling these challenges “real issues for the State of Israel.”
Asked about rising food prices, he said costs increased sharply after the war, with produce “up about 30%” at the peak. Prices have eased but have not returned to prewar levels. He also observed what he termed “shrinkflation,” reducing a product’s size while keeping its price steady, and he blamed monopolies for keeping prices high even when conditions change.
Gitler compared the situation to airlines that continue to charge fuel surcharges even after oil prices fall. These problems, he said, reflect broader policy decisions, including current disputes over milk production.
He argued that Israel must prioritize “our nutritional security,” even if that means paying more than consumers in Berlin or the United States. Israel, he warned, must be prepared for the possibility that “the world could turn on us,” which could create supply problems.
The balance between affordability and independence is difficult to achieve, Gitler said. Despite widespread food insecurity, it is “incredible” that even poor households waste food.
On what individuals can do, he listed volunteering with Leket, donating to the organization, and sharing leftover food with people in their own communities who need help. His message to Israeli households: “Please don’t let it go to waste … share it with neighbors … share it with those who need it.”
Asked which countries Israel should look to as models, Gitler mentioned northern Europe. A German resident on a recent Zoom call told him that the attitudes he worries about “just don’t happen in Northern Europe.”
He added that countries like Germany and the Netherlands treat waste very differently, a mindset shaped partly by postwar scarcity. Older Israelis who lived through rationing “can’t even understand” modern levels of waste.
As a child, he recalls being told, “There are starving kids in Ethiopia; finish your plate,” and he believes cultural norms in some places strongly discourage waste. He also pointed to the biblical commandment of bal tashchit (do not destroy): “We need to start coming back toward that.” Cutting waste also protects water, energy, and the environment, and society “maybe … need[s] to go back in time a little bit.”
Gitler explained how he founded Leket. Noticing the “disconnect between waste and poverty,” he took a sabbatical, researched organizations like City Harvest and Second Harvest, and learned from them before starting operations in Israel 22 years ago. He began by recovering food from event halls in his car and expanded to corporate cafeterias, army bases, hotels, and farms.
The organization has become “a big, growing organization with a lot of responsibility.” Because each dollar generates about five dollars’ worth of food, Leket plans to scale further with more trucks, agencies, and volunteers, “over 100,000 volunteers this year,” even though it still captures only about 20% of Israel’s food waste.