♻️ הכיתה שאספה 12,000 בקבוקים

At the start of the year, a sixth-grade class at Hadekel School decided to run a community project for their civics class - though nobody expected it to grow this big. Their teacher asked them to pick an environmental topic, and a few students suggested something simple: collect empty plastic bottles and cans from around the neighborhood and turn them in for the recycling deposit refund. At first it seemed small - each kid brought in a few bottles from home. But one student suggested putting up flyers in nearby apartment buildings, and another asked the owner of the local grocery store to let them leave a collection box by the entrance. Within a month, the boxes at school and at the store were filling up every single week. The class organized volunteer shifts every Friday, with a few parents helping out, to collect everything and sort it by plastic and metal. After three months of collecting, the class finally counted everything up - and could barely believe the number: 12,000 bottles and cans. The refund money they earned, almost 3,000 shekels, didn't go into anyone's pocket. The class voted together and decided to donate the entire amount to an organization that plants trees in crowded city neighborhoods. Beyond the money, the project taught the students something they hadn't expected: how much waste quietly piles up without anyone noticing, and how easy it is to turn that waste into something good once everyone pitches in, even just a little. Today, the collection boxes are still standing on neighborhood streets - and they're still filling up.