The United Synagogue is close to going plastic-free in all synagogues as part of its strategy to reduce the organisation’s environmental impact.

The achievement has coincided with the Chief Rabbi’s planting of the first tree in a new garden at the United Synagogue’s head office to mark Tu Bishvat (the new year for trees), which falls today.

Naomi Verber, head of environmental policy at the US, said that thanks to Dorot, the organisation’s environmental initiative, nearly all shuls had moved over to going plastic-free, which was “no small task”.

Most United Synagogue communities are now plastic-free (Green Queen)

Speaking to the JC, she said: “Communities have taken to the task [of reducing plastic] with incredible enthusiasm, and it is not easy when you think about having to store things.”

“People might say that just [reducing plastic] is a drop in the ocean in terms of what we need to do to help the environment, but it makes a difference and sends a big and clear message.”

As part of the Dorot initiative, the US has launched an electric car scheme for staff and are also rewilding unused land owned by the US.

Community members can mark an occasion by planting a tree in the United Synagogue's Woodland Trust nature reserve in Norfolk (Photo: NBN Atlas)

Verber explained: “We own a lot of cemetery land and manage other cemeteries. There is some 20 acres of land that we are not using, and we are rewilding that land to improve biodiversity.”

She said the organisation’s tree-planting project alongside the Woodland Trust nature reserve in Norfolk had been a great success.

They have sold over 1,400 trees to members who can visit the trees that have been planted.

Verber said: “It is something people really like to do that makes a difference, and they can see it. They plant them for bar or bat mitzvahs or milestones or memorials.”

The Chief Rabbi said: “In Jewish tradition, trees are a symbol of life and a reminder of its sanctity. For this reason, Tu Bishvat this year will have added significance for us, at a time when we pray for the safety and security of the lives of our brethren in Israel. In addition, planting trees is also one of the most important ways in which we can make a tangible difference to the protection of our environment.”

Verber said that in the last two years, the US community had “really moved forward and shown they are ready to be a leader in the environmental space”.

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