Plastic-free Ramadan project goes nationwide

A PROJECT led by a Fishponds campaigner to save tonnes of plastic at Ramadan is spreading across the country this month.

Naseem Talukdar, the founder of Projects Against Plastic, worked with seven Bristol mosques last year to find sustainable ways to serve food and drink to worshippers breaking their daylight fast during the month-long religious festival.

PAP works to reduce singleuse plastic waste in the food and hospitality sector, and set up the project after estimating that a typical mosque can use up to 3,000 water bottles and 2,000 plastic plates and cutlery sets during Ramadan, which is expected to begin on March 22 this year.

They installed dishwashers and reusable crockery at mosques, looked at ways to provide access to drinking water and encourage visitors to bring their own bottles, after a pilot in 2019 found a water fountain and dishwasher reduced waste in one mosque by 70 per cent.

The Plastic Free Ramadan project is now going nationwide, with a launch event held in the House of Lords at the end of January to encourage as many of the UK's estimated 500 mosques as possible to get involved.

Mosques from the South East to the North West have already responded to the campaign, and organisers hope more will join the Bristol pioneers, which include Eastville's Jalabad

Mosque, Faizan-E-Madina in Fishponds, Easton Jamia Masjid and Greenbank Masjid.

Naseem said: “Protecting the environment is an important aspect of Islam and together we can tackle plastic pollution nationwide.

“If everyone gets involved, we could save around a tonne of waste per mosque. This would benefit those communities directly and the country in general.”

PAP worked with Bristol

Muslim Strategic Leadership Group to develop the voluntary scheme, holding events to raise awareness.

BMSLG environmental task group chair Sheila El Dieb said: “Ramadan is a time when Muslims are reconsidering their individual place in the world, along with their responsibility to the planet, each other and our fellow global inhabitants.

“No step is too small to seek to find ecological ways of making our living sustainable; no person is unimportant in this journey.”

Lord Dick Newby OBE, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, hosted the nationwide launch event in Parliament.

He said: “If we are to clean up the environment, we’ve got to drastically reduce the use of plastic.

"Plastic Free Ramadan is showing how this can be done. It deserves every success.”

For more information on PAP visit www.pap.org.uk.