The famous Quality Street chocolate box that our grandmothers magically turn to the sewing kit, the bazillion plastic bags that our mothers store under the bed to reuse them later, the recycled old salsa jars in our kitchen cabinet that later change to homemade jam jars. All sounds familiar right?
Sustainable practices have been subtly used in our everyday life, as they originate from Egyptian mothers’ will to be more economical. Reusing old plastic bags and jars, reusing old clothes and sewing new ones are all examples of these long-lost “Home hacks”.
Yet, with globalization, people’s lifestyles became extremely similar, regarding their ethnic background, socioeconomic status, and education level. Nowadays, our shopping choices became nearly the same, we -at least the privileged ones- shop from the same international brands. Moreover, with the emergence of E-commerce websites, all our purchases became one-click away, making it much easier to buy new goodies.
With the “one-click away” culture, our buying patterns became extremely harmful to our environment, ecosystems, and mostly our human capital, as most fast-growing fashion industries’ production is based on bishops, low wages, and inhumane work conditions. (If you are interested watch “The True Cost” documentary, highly recommended!) Now it is time to shop consciously, and think again before buying those pair of shoes! A bamboo toothbrush and a metal straw can make a huge difference.
In celebration of “Plastic-free July” at 925Egypt, we created a list of ethical local brands that offer eco-friendly products. So, the next time you shop, make sure to take a look at it!
1. ElBadeel
Taken from the brand’s website
The first Egyptian website of its kind, “ElBadeel” is a “one-stop” online shop for everything eco-friendly in Egypt. Founded in 2019, the E-commerce website provides all eco-friendly products in one platform, ranging from skin care products and hygiene to kitchenware and climate-friendly bags.
As finding eco-friendly products in Egypt might be a hard task, the “green” brand’s founders, Heba Abdelfattah and Hoda Hussein decided to collaborate with small businesses and emerging startups that provide ecological products and provide it in one place, just a click-away.
2. Qarura
Taken from the brand’s Facebook page
Reinventing the good old “2olla”, “Qarura” is a brand than uses glazed clay to create Eco-friendly bottles. With long experience in sustainability in Egypt, the Founders of the “Dayra Camp” and “Mobikya”, Mohamed Serag Eldin and Ibrahim A. Abougendy, created “Qarura”, in order to continue preserving the environment and help reduce the usage of plastic bottles.
Giving the famous” 2olla” a more trendy makeover, the brand offers the Eco-friendly bottles, in 2 sizes, the standard (350-400 ml), and the recently introduced size (700-750 ml). Moreover, in order to make the bottle more personalized to each customer, the new business can engrave the customer’s name on the bottle. What a perfect mix, helping the environment with a touch of uniqueness!
3. Gomash
Taken from the brand’s Facebook page
With the over-consumption of single-use plastic bags, in supermarkets and most shops, “Gomash” gives you the chance to change this scenario. Founded by Heba Kamel, the local cco-friendly brand creates fabric bags that could be used regularly, instead of the harmful plastic bag.
“Gomash”, which is short for “Go-Omash”, which means choose fabric, the local brand offers Mesh bags and easily-foldable tote bags with different sizes and colors, to cater our everyday usage, whether to carry fruits and vegetables, usual groceries, new pair of shoes, or even beauty products.
“Plastic-free July” is about to end, yet it does not mean that we should stop our attempts to shop consciously and live more sustainably. In celebration of this month and as an act of giving back to our earth, let us support local brands, shop more ethically, preserve our environment, and think again before hitting the “Add to Cart” button!
