Tamara
Efrat

Tamara is an interdisciplinary designer and an entrepreneur based in Tel-Aviv. Tamara holds B.FA in fashion design from Shenkar college and M.Des (with distinction) in industrial design from Bezalel Academy. Her research and creative work investigates the relationship between traditional crafts and digital technologies. Her work was exhibited in numerous local and international museums and galleries and published in various art and design magazines. She recently co-founded Mon Terra together with Yuval Dishon. Mon Terra is a company producing useful, designed and sustainable products made of 100% recycled plastic waste.

PROJECT

Mon Terra is an ecologically committed company addressing the issue of re-use of plastic waste. The company produces useful, designed and sustainable products created in a process of collecting, cleaning, sorting and shredding the waste into small flakes. The flakes are turned into products by various techniques.

Mon Terra is an ecologically committed company addressing the issue of re-use of plastic waste. Israel produces over a million ton of plastic waste a year, only 25% of which is recycled. Most of the accumulated waste is shipped abroad where it is buried or even burned. In Mon Terra, we take plastic waste produced in Israel from the gardening field and recycle it locally. By doing so, we reduce waste disposal in landfills, save energy and pollution of long-distance transport, lower use of new raw materials and encourage local production. We are keen on making useful, long-lasting, well-designed products in order to reduce overconsumption of disposable products which all too soon become waste again. Our process begins with collecting, cleaning and sorting plastic waste, mainly from the gardening industry. We then shred the plastic into small flakes to get our raw material. Finally, we use various techniques to turn the raw material into durable products.

MOTIVATION FOR AND COMMITMENT TO CREATING A BETTER AND MORE SUSTAINABLE PLANET

We wish to be part of a necessary change in global production chains, (over) consumption habits and polluting practices. That’s why we address the issue of plastic waste, but we won’t recycle plastic into unnecessary products that will soon become waste again.

We realised most raw materials and products, even those advertised as “biodegradable” or “recyclable”, aren’t environmentally friendly in practice. That’s why we have our own manufacturing line: to promote local economy and fair employment conditions, to reduce environmental cost of shipment and landfill disposal, and hopefully to gradually replace disposable goods, which soon become waste again, with useful durable products made by local tools and methods.