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Ori Adam Skloot
"Researching the Recycling Industry in Israel"
Sponsor: Christine Rosen, Associate Professor, Haas School of Business Administration

• Project Description
• Scholar's Photo
• Scholar's Journal

Ori's project unites his interest in business with his strong commitment to environmental sustainability. Specifically, he will be focusing on the emerging recycling industry in Israel. Israel presents a particularly interesting case study, because it is a country in which industrialization and expansion continue to progress with only minimal consideration given to their environmental impact, despite generally high educational levels among its citizens/consumers. Ori will begin by studying the organizational structure, government involvement and history of Berkeley's local recycling system in order to gain a better understanding of the factors that led to its success. He will then travel to Israel in order to do field research on effective strategies for overcoming obstacles to implementing such a model in a localized area in the state of Israel.

At first, it was remarkably difficult to get my project moving, because I encountered numerous obstacles in interviewing people. I've discovered the importance of "Protectcia," the infamous Israeli euphemism for connections, knowing this person who knows that person; it's the key to reaching people here. Most people could care less about an American student doing a research project from UC Berkeley--but if I'm friends with their cousin's son-in-law's best friend Shlomo, then they will happily meet with me and tell me their life story, the 50 year story of Israel's history, and their in-depth knowledge about any current political affairs. So I was off to a slow start but soon things got rolling. I've met with several people in the government, including the head of recycling in Israel, had interviews with professors, and have been doing a lot of research at the universities. Next week I have an interview with the minister of the environment who is the only female minister in all the government.