FROM ZERO TO ECO HERO: NO TIME TO WASTE FOR UAE CAMPAIGNERS
▶ An industry is springing up in the country to support people who aim to generate no rubbish
A few years ago, Doua Benhida saw a story about a woman who could fit her entire year’s rubbish in an olive jar.
At the time she dismissed it as impossible. Now it is her goal.
“When I saw it I thought, ‘you cannot have all of your waste in just one jar’,” said Ms Benhida, 28, a French-Moroccan who has lived in Dubai for the past two years. “But then last year I had family over. So you buy more food and shopping, you go out and have picnics. And then it got to me – this is all going to go in the bin.”
That was the start of her drive to become a zero waster. Today, she estimates she is about 70 per cent there.
“I have my reusable bag for grocery shopping. I have my own home-made detergent. I have my coffee mug and straws,” she said.
“I have a bamboo toothbrush. I do my own toothpaste. I use shampoo bars and soap bars as well that are packaging-free.”
But she admits too much waste is still going to the bin. She wants to start composting, which will drastically boost her commitment to zero waste.
Ms Benhida has learnt a lot about zero waste over the past year, and she now shares it at gatherings in Dubai for friends and others.
“What I tell people is you first have to identify what is your biggest income in the use of plastic? And what is the easiest thing to swap,” she said.
“So for me, it could be the reusable bag. But for someone who drinks coffee 10 times a day, it could be a reusable mug. So I just made a list so that people can be aware of the swaps. And it’s great, because a lot of people are not aware that there are shampoo bars, which are packaging-free.”
She is part of a growing group of people in the UAE who are going further to reduce waste.
And there is an industry springing up to support them.
Natalya Konforti, the owner of Glitches and Stitches, a company that helps design junkies to become self-sufficient, is running sessions to teach people how to make their own deodorant and toothpaste, skills she learnt from a friend who lives in France.
“For the toothpaste I have a bunch of personalisable recipes,” said Ms Konforti, 32, who is French-American.
“So, for example, you can use activated charcoal powder if you want a toothpaste that is whitening or you can use calcium carbonate if you have sensitive teeth. And then it’s made with a base of coconut oil because that’s antibacterial.”
Sumithra Vaidyanathan is trying to get a company off the ground, selling cleaners made of fruit and vegetable waste.
First discovered in Thailand, and extensively tested, the products have been proven to eradicate germ colonies in tests, said Ms Vaidyanathan, 30, who is from India and has lived in Dubai for four years.
The process was adopted by a group of Indian women she met when she was travelling a couple of months ago.
“I started making them for myself at home. It was not supposed to be a business. I didn’t think of it that way,” she said.
But she gave the products to a couple of friends to try, and they were surprised at how well they worked.
“You don’t believe something so simple as a fruit peel or a vegetable peel can help you clean,” Ms Vaidyanathan said.
“I am testing the product just now, and trying to get it tested by Dubai Municipality.”
Shraddha Shrigondekar, who owns Cling Nature, which sells a range of bamboo products, including speakers, straws, plates and toothbrushes that the company produces itself in India, is participating in Ms Benhida’s sessions. She said the concept of zero waste was not yet widely understood here.
“Awareness is something we are creating at the moment,” Ms Shrigondekar said.
But it does exist, even if the concept is still fairly new in the UAE. Victoria Vingut and her family reuse whenever they can, try to avoid packaging as much as possible and make their own dishwasher and laundry detergent.
“I compost so I don’t throw away any food scraps, egg boxes, etc, if I can’t buy eggs loose,” she wrote in a discussion on the Plastic Free UAE Facebook page.
“We use bamboo toothbrushes and a loofah for washing the dishes and in our showers. Both of these then go into my compost bin when worn out,” she said.
Another member of the group said her family was still far from zero waste, but they were moving towards it.
“Of course we do recycling but also now use cloth reusable shopping bags and fruit and veg bags, cloth diapers for my son, composting on the balcony, etc,” she wrote.
“Step by step we are trying to reduce the waste we are making. I have to say it is definitely not easy here in the UAE and I have lived a much more ‘zero’ waste lifestyle back home. But step by step we can get there.”
I have my reusable bag for grocery shopping. I have my own homemade detergent. I have my coffee mug DOUA BENHIDA Dubai resident promoting zero waste