Ari Twito, an 8-year-old boy, won a lawsuit he filed against the Rami Levi superstore chain after he says he was refused the return of bottles for recycling at one of the chain's branches.
His mother revealed the story in a post on social media, in which she wrote that her son received "a lesson in law and justice."
The story began about a year ago, when Ari's parents encouraged him to start a small "business" of collecting recyclable bottles and returning them for the legally required deposit refund to learn about environmental responsibility and the value of money. In Israel, most drinks are eligible for a refund of 0.3 shekels per bottle. According to law, each customer may return up to 50 refundable drink containers a day.
One day, when Ari went to a branch of the chain to hand over the bottles he had collected, an employee told him that the machine used to sort drink containers by material was broken and recycling was not possible. Ari, following guidance from his father who had checked the wording of the law, returned to the employee and explained that the law requires the business to accept the bottles in any case, otherwise it faces a fine of NIS 1,800. Despite this, the employee refused and Ari was sent home.
The family decided to turn the incident into a civic and legal lesson and filed a lawsuit. During the proceedings, the chain offered a settlement under which the boy could enter the supermarket and take "whatever he wanted," but Ari's parents rejected it outright. "This is really not the lesson we wanted to teach," his mother wrote, "we wanted a lesson in justice, fairness and, above all, not to be afraid of any large institution."
On the day of the hearing, the judge, who was charmed by the young plaintiff, heard his arguments. At the end of the session a financial settlement was reached, and Ari received compensation of NIS 800.
"Mom, I beat Rami Levi!", Ari declared as he left the courthouse. His mother concluded proudly, "There is no doubt a little Twito has grown here who is going to become a big, savvy businessman."