It is Zero Waste Week this week! Taking place from 3-7th September. Zero Waste Week is a grassroots campaign, working toward raising awareness of the environmental impact of waste, and empowering participants to reduce waste. The award-winning awareness campaign has been working toward helping its participants preserve resources and save money since its inception in 2008.  Its founder is Rachelle Strauss and she gives incredible tips about recycling in a simple and manageable way.

In its 11th campaign, the Zero Waste week is a great way to break bad habits, don’t let the title put you off, it’s merely an aspiration for a better world. If you can change things ONE step at a time, this is ALL it takes! Last year over 76 countries got involved, the hashtag went viral, trending on Twitter for two days.  There were over 56 million impressions made last year!

• “I loved the interaction with others. The sense of community with a common purpose is powerful.”
• “If you stop to think too much about the environment it’s overwhelming, but Zero Waste Week makes you feel you can do something.”
• “This week was a real eye-opener. I have discovered amazing products I had no idea about before.”
• “Huge thanks for enlightening me. I thought I was doing a lot already but you’ve showed me even more.”

Why should we do it?

You’re not alone when thinking about where your rubbish goes, often yes it can seem like when you put your bin bags out, the bin men whizz them away to a magical ominous kingdom where the litter disintegrates into thin air, and all is well in the stratosphere. Unfortunately no, the waste has to end up somewhere, and more often than not, it can end up at the bottom of an ocean, landfill sites burned with an incinerator, releasing toxic chemicals into the air, or even in the pit of the stomach of an animal. So it’s all around a bad thing.

So what can you do?

Reduce household wastage:

• Take a waste audit so that you can document what you are wasting and using up, you’re halfway there when you’re actually aware of it.
• Look into what actually CAN be recycled from a Landfill sift through your rubbish so that you have done your bit in knowing what is landfill worthy or not, most times you will find it isn’t so daunting to separate waste into categories.
• Remove your kitchen bin, sounds crazy right? But it’s a great way to train yourself into ensuring you are recycling.
• Find creative ways to re-use things like glass jars, plastic boxes for storage, even paper.
• Get into the habit of buying sustainable products, things that are re-useable like kitchen cloths instead of paper towels, (unless they’re biodegradable.)
• When you’re at the check out ask yourself a few simple questions: – what will I do with this product once it is finished? You often find you really dont want to deal with the headache of disposing of it, and feel guilty enough not to buy it.
• Learn more about upcycling resources food and all!

Purchasing

• Try to curb your purchases by endeavouring to recycle what you already have. A great way to do that is by giving more meaning and importance to an item you own that seems worn out, old, or just out of date. By thinking about ways to honour the item because you love it so much, you will get into the habit of reusing it. Rehashing old curtains to make a beautiful dress, or giving your jumper a multidimensional purpose like using it for fingerless gloves.
• Using a reusable tote or string bag for your groceries can save your pennies on plastic bags too.
• If you are going to buy, remember that the coat that looks pretty cool and is cheap, probably won’t last and you will find yourself spending even more, on a new coat the following winter. Invest in clothes with a mindset that when you buy, you are buying the item to last you for life. Even if it doesn’t it comes down to how you treat the clothes you own and navigate shopping. Your whole approach will change. This way you will wear it until it literally disintegrates, and you will also have a much higher respect for it, and so will keep it in impeccable condition for much longer. It is essentially a mindset that you want to help re-instill to train your mind to take better care of the earth!

Remember approaching this week can seem really overwhelming when thinking you have to change a whole lifestyle. However, if you can work toward recycling at least one item a day, you will make such a monumental impact globally. Think big, avoid thinking that this one item being recycled won’t change much. If everyone did this collectively, and globally, just imagine what kind of change we can make. If we make that kind of change, it will only inspire more motivation once we see the ripple effect it can have. One of us at the Amaliah team came across a woman at London’s Southbank yesterday with a bin bag, cleaning up the rubbish that lined the river shore. it triggered others to follow suit and help her, conversations were ignited surrounding waste and pollution. It was a transformative moment in the heart of a very busy, mindless, city. A moment of mindfulness carried impact. We must also be mindful of our position as Khalifahs of this earth that Allah swt entrusted us with, not only should we be ensuring we are doing the MOST to prevent pollution, as human beings, but being mindful of our duty to not be wasteful as Muslims. Allah swt gave us a green lustrous land to take care of, we shouldn’t feel the need to be reminded by a short lived annual campaign, it should come as second nature to us. Our fitra is to feel better when we work toward purifying ourselves and our land. Remember just one item is a good deed too, you may not feel like it will change things, but it will for sure change things in the eyes of Allah, it comes down to our intention!

What do you say…will you join in?

Our #haasome Zero Waste initiative crew completed another Chou Hall waste audit this week. We're on track to be the first #zerowaste certified business school in the country! Go green team! https://t.co/HQf83RLK0Z pic.twitter.com/uS9fZUk8Hi

— Haas School of Bus. (@BerkeleyHaas) August 30, 2018

#ZeroWasteWeek Are joining in Zero Waste Week? Lovely advice from @followourpath Click; https://t.co/GpLDI1vuiZ pic.twitter.com/3gRN652sqs

— Earth Conscious (@EarthConscious_) September 4, 2018

Ditch wet wipes as part of the #ZeroWasteHackney challenge, over a week try and produce zero waste, see how much you can recycle and what you can do to prevent creating waste in the first place pic.twitter.com/LB884szsGG

— Hackney Council (@hackneycouncil) September 1, 2018

Good morning world! ???? ???? The sun is shining and we're already halfway through the week! Wowza. Did you know it's also Zero Waste Week? Comment below and tell me what you're doing to reduce your waste! #zerowaste #iwight #isleofwight #environment #sustainability pic.twitter.com/yN4qNEhQSv

— KR Sustainability Consultancy (@KRSustainable) September 5, 2018

This. ???? #ZeroWasteWeekhttps://t.co/KVK9eWezcy

— Love Food Hate Waste (@LFHW_UK) September 4, 2018