In recent years, Toyota has adopted a new vision—Let’s Go Beyond—which focuses on environmental entrepreneurship and sustainable solutions. The initiative strives to reach zero emissions in vehicle production and even go beyond. Toyota has set a goal to create vehicles with a positive impact through environmental developments. For example, hydrogen-powered vehicles that emit only water and clean the air while driving. The central objective of this vision is to make vehicles in Europe and Israel emission-free by 2035.
As part of the Let’s Go Beyond vision, Toyota Israel, in collaboration with the Union Group, launched the Israel Earth Prize in September 2022 to promote sustainability, innovation, and responsibility. The group committed to awarding at least 5 million NIS over five years to fund and promote breakthrough solutions for improving the environment in Israel.
The competition is open to initiatives from various fields: carbon emission reduction, preservation of natural assets, transportation, addressing the climate crisis, circular economy, fashion, urban sustainability, food, and more. The goal of the competition is to encourage innovative solutions to environmental challenges and climate crisis issues.
In the 2024 competition, Haverim Le'Refuah won the grand prize of one million NIS. We are the only non-profit in Israel that collects unused medications and donates them to patients in need, thereby significantly reducing the environmental pollution caused by discarding medicine. Furthermore, as part of the sorting process for medications reaching the organization, we collect those unfit for use and transfer them for "green" disposal.
The initiative arose from the understanding that every year, medications worth over 500 million NIS are thrown into the trash. In this way, life-saving medicines reach groundwater and soil, endangering the health of us all. Today, we assist approximately 7,000 patients every month in receiving necessary medications for free, providing a variety of drugs worth over 96 million NIS per year. Beyond saving many lives, our activity saves the environment and reduces environmental pollution.
Baruch Lieberman, CEO of the organization, noted:
"Winning the prize will increase public recognition and awareness of the organization’s activities and will contribute even further to the reduction of environmental pollution."
