Trying to be environmentally friendly in Riyadh…

Recycling is very slow catching on here in Saudi Arabia which is quite a shock after coming from the UK where you are rationed carrier bags in the supermarkets, given incentives to reuse those bags or use woven shopping bags; where local councils will now fine you for putting recyclables in with the regular trash; where recyclables such as plastic and tin cans are collected bi-weekly and where there are bottle banks at most major supermarkets.

The volume of rubbish in my dustbin here in Riyadh is enormous due to the fact that nothing is recycled and and also due to over-packaging of products in the supermarkets. Quite frankly, it is disturbing.

The only thing I am able to recycle is water bottles as the big 5 gallon bottles are collected, cleaned and reused. Obviously you need to purchase some kind of pump or cooling machine in order to use these bottles.

Recently Carrefour supermarket has started selling tough, reusable woven bags for the shopping so thumbs up to Carrefour for that. Thumbs down to Carrefour though for not offering people any incentive to use these bags. If you forget the bags or don’t buy them, the bag packers who automatically pack your shopping for you will still pack your shopping into as many carrier bags as is humanly possible. You will get home and find one item in some bags for no apparent reason.

I have heard about recycling bottle banks etc. in Jeddah but thus far, nothing of the sort that I am aware of in Riyadh. Would love to be stand corrected though…

 

Water wastage is another big issue here. Riyadh is a desert oasis and as such water has to be pumped along water pipes from coastal cities. I find it appalling seeing people hosing water their cars down when a sponge and bucket of water would do the same job and leaving sprinklers on to water their lawns when there are hadith remonstrating against the wastage of water. As muslims there is enough evidence in the Qur’an and hadith to show us that environmentalism (preserving and not wasting) is incumbent upon us.

The Prophet ( صلى الله عليه و سلم  ) told his companion, Sa’ad, that he was using an excessive amount of water to make ablution, wudu, saying ‘do not waste [water]‘. Sa’ad then asked if there could ever be wastage if water was used for the purpose of wudu. The Prophet’s ( صلى الله عليه و سلم ) reply was, ‘Yes. Even if you are by a flowing river.’

 

On another similar occasion he said, ‘In anything there can be waste.’  Indeed the Prophet even stated that pouring too much water for ablution, wudu, is an act of the devil [a bad action].

From the following ayah from the Qur’an we can see that the preserving the earth and it’s provisions are a trust from Allah (swt):

We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains: but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it― he was indeed unjust and foolish (Qur’an 33:71)

We should attempt to preserve Allah’s balance and not destroy it:

And everything with Him is measured (Qur’an 13:8) :

Indeed the earth may have been entrusted to man but there is greater wisdom in everything if only we knew and the earth serves multiple purposes:

Ibn Qayyim al_Jawziyya (d.751/1350) is windely known as a writer on law and dogma, but he also paid great attention to the animal kingdom. His writings on the environment provide terminologies, observations and definitions similar to modern environmental scholars:

The wisdom of God made the earth like a mother that carries inside its womb different kinds of children. It acts for them as a containers, kitafa, that supports the living and hides the dead… Observe the great wisdom of God who has made plenty of what His creatures need. The more they need a thing, the more was made available by God… (Excerpt from The Environmental Dimensions of Islam * )