Living a greener life means also to reduce trash. And this in itself is a very specific problem in Morocco and especially out here in the mountains. We neither have refuse collection service, garbage trucks, nor any common refuse tips. Trash either goes behind the next hill or is burnt with a little fire by the producer himself. Hmm, not a very healthy thing to do…
The arrival of modern life products such as plastic bags (black Moroccan mikkas), wrapped sweets and drinks leads to an increasing number of garbage. Whereas before people grew all their food locally or made it at home, they buy now biscuits, yoghurt and other plastic stuff and produce a lot more trash than ever before, mashaallah. The lack of consciousness and education makes it worse: people throw plastic papers just right away wherever they are and no one cares. Little by little the beautiful green nature fills up with black mikkas and colourful trash.
But subhanallah, there are some movements and few people begin to think and to change. Little environmental-care education programs are held in schools and villages and in smalls steps a change towards the better can be recognized.
My family strongly supports such programmes. And I am always on the try to recycle, repurpose and reduce our personal garbage.
One great thing I recently found on the internet is cloth toilet paper.
We are already using cloth diapers, but I never thought about cloth wipes… until I saw a blog post that led me there. What a simple logical great inspiration! Alhamdulillah.
I immediately took old out-worn towels and cut them into rectangles (approx. 15 x 8 cm). In total I made about 70 pieces; and maybe, when I find time, I will machine-trim the edges with a zigzag stitch…
But for now I put them in a nice little basket and brought them into the bathroom where they are used for one’s little businesses (the normal toilet paper is used only for bigger business)…
Alhamdulillah, it feels so much better to wipe with real cotton – there’s usually only one cloth piece needed and no torn up paper roll and sticky crumbled little paper pieces any more… We produce much less refuse now, my weekly cloth diaper washing machine is loaded fully since and it feels so good to do good, doesn’t it?
Subhanallah, I am off to make some cloth tissues (handkerchiefs) out of old sheets, inchaallah….
Happy green first summer week!
itto's journal 
As salaamu alaykum my dear sister!
Subhaan Allah! I have a group which is a resource for sisters striving to return to the Sunnah. About three years ago I posted a discussion about the “Sunnah of Cloth.” It included using cloth instead of disposable items. Not only did I mention cloth tablecloths, napkins, tea towels, and dishcloths instead of paper towels, it also covered cloth sanitary pads (I’ve been using them for the past 4 years), cloth diapers (I used them exclusively for my second daughter), handkerchiefs, and cloth “toilet tissue.” I simply bought packs of inexpensive cotton washcloths and they are color coded. Each family member has their own color, so we don’t get confused. As we use water to cleanse ourselves after any toilet activity, the purpose of the cloth is simply to dry, not remove any waste, therefore we use them for both functions. They get thrown in the wash at the end of a day and we only ever bring out toilet tissue for guests.
It is extremely liberating not to think about running out of these items anymore, as we no longer use the disposable variety. I loved never running out of diapers!
One little thought I had regarding napkins and handkerchiefs was to personalize them or have each family member design their own. Another idea I love and hope to do in the future, is to embroider some precious words on the napkins I want to use for guests. Perhaps words like, “This napkin is for a precious friend.” Or, “May your meal be Blessed.”
Anyway, I’m thrilled to hear of your conversion, mashaa’Allah! I can truly relate about the rubbish situation as it is much the same here in Saudi Arabia. May Allah guide His believers to greater awareness -ameen!
MUCH love,
Mai xxx
salam alaikoum,
a quick add: thanks sister Mai for mentioning the water-cleaning after having been to toilet.
for us Muslims it should be a habit to celan the private parts with water after toilet to be clean and pure for the prayer… so the cloth wipes are very helpful not only to clean, but also to dry us and to avoid cold or infections.
masalama.
Wa alaykum as salaam wa Rahmat Allah wa Barakatuh,
Another thing that I did was use baby flannels and cut up flannel blankets for diaper wipes. I had an empty wipe container, folded them up inside and left them dry and ready. Leaving them in a wet solution can lead to growth of mold, so instead I bought a couple of spray bottles (for different locations in the house) and filled them with a solution of water with a few drops of tea tree oil and lavender oil and about a teaspoon of liquid Castille soap. This solution was amazing, as my daughter NEVER got diaper rash, mashaa’Allah.
In practice, I would undo her diaper and take it off (using it to wipe away any waste from her. Then I would spray her and spray the wipe on one end, and clean her. I used the dry end of the wipe to ensure she was dried. It worked wonderfully, and of course I simply threw them in the washing machine and they were ready again.
Oh, green living is SO BEAUTIFUL, al hamdul’Illah!
Assalaamu Alaykum,
I love this post and the whole idea of being so green but being completely honest with you, find it hard to “convert”. I do try to minimise my use of disposables but I’m a newbie! I think that the concept of using cloth wipes in the toilet is the “deep end” for me and I need to start at the shallow! Do either you, Itto, or Mai have advice for someone like me. Maybe you have a blog post you can direct me to?
JazakumAllahu khayra!
Wa alaykum as salaam wa Rahmat Allah wa Barakatuh Fruitful!
May I suggest that you start at the very beginning? Consider the things that you use that are disposable and consider what things you can comfortably change. For us, we sort of went backwards by starting with cloth diapers and ending with cloth napkins, LOL! However, think of things like handkerchiefs and napkins.
I bought some beautiful old hankies and each family member has their own unique ones. You, creative creature that you are mashaa’Allah, would easily come up with some stunning ideas for this, I’m sure.
As for napkins, get individual tastes involved so everyone has their own napkins that they like…along with some for guests. Have a little basket by the table so the used ones can be thrown in for laundry. We usually have a rule that one napkin should last one day…or longer if there was no messy food. We don’t wash them after every meal…unless something unusual happens. Another thing which can reduce the napkin usage is just sending them off to wash their hands when they are in a mess. That is usually what happens even if they do dirty a napkin, so why not just do it first? I can surely understand where the concept of finger bowls at the dinner table would be a good thing to revive!
Try using dishcloths (you know, those white cotton cloths with blue or red stripes) for clean-up instead of paper towels.
How about that fora beginning? I think once you’ve ventured into the land of “cloth” then we can gradually work on increasing it after you’ve settled into a comfort zone, bi ithn Illah!
Wa iyaaki ukhti!
Jazakillahu khayran Mai for such great ideas, encouragement and heaps of inspiration!
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