-- MK Yaakov Tessler (UTJ), Chairman of the Committee of Public Petitions, in debate over the expansion of the recycling law to include large plastic bottles 1.5l and larger) that have been excluded until now. 

The law passed its initial reading recently and is now in committee for further debates and adjustments. The Haredi representatives have expressed opposition to this new application to large bottles as, in their opinion, it would largely be a tax on the Haredi community - their large families are major consumers of the large bottles of drinks.

You might ask why it is a tax - you pay the extra 25 agurot, or whatever the cost is, but you get it back when you bring the empty bottles back to the store! It is considered a tax because a large percentage of people do not bother bringing it back to the stores, so they end up paying the deposit and never getting it back. In their defense, the country makes it very inconvenient to bring the bottles back. The stores limit how many you can bring at a time, and often they just say no bringing back bottles this week, or during holiday season, etc.