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Green Iftar, ‘#RamadanHijau’ campaign to reduce iftar waste
Green Ramadan: People break their fast at Burj Al-Bakrie Mosque in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Monday
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reen Ramadan: People break their fast at Burj Al-Bakrie Mosque in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Monday. The mosque is the first to implement a green iftar program, in which single-use food containers are not used to reduce waste.(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
Jakartans are no stranger to the mountain of trash produced during Ramadan at the end of every bukber (short for buka bersama; breaking-of-the-fast together). Carton and styrofoam boxes, plastic cups and cutlery, and, of course, food waste dominate the trash.
The Burj Al Bakrie Mosque in Kuningan, South Jakarta, is trying to prove otherwise by taking the Muhammadan saying, “cleanliness is part of faith”, to the next level with its Green Iftar program.
The Burj Al Bakrie, which is located on the basement floor of the Bakrie Tower on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, is the first mosque to implement such a program.
The program is initiated under the EcoMasjid movement of the Indonesian Ulema Council’s (MUI) Glorifying the Environment Body (LPLH-MUI).
“We have been conducting the Green Iftar [program] for three years now,” LPLH-MUI head Hayu Prabowo told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Hayu said that the Burj Al Bakrie was selected to run the program, as it was closest to his workplace.
“We realize that the environmental issue is about not only the lack of regulation, but also moral and ethics. Religion plays an important role in it. We are using an MUI fatwa as its foundation,” he said, referring to MUI Fatwa No. 47/2014 on waste management.
Hayu recalled the first days of implementing the Green Iftar program at the Burj Al Bakrie Mosque three years ago.
Hayu and his peers at the mosque made an extra effort to make sure that local food vendors did not use plastics in packaging and delivering their food. They also set aside extra funds to buy reusable food containers and cutlery for the mosque and campaigned to raise people’s awareness of their mission.
“Many asked us, ‘Why are you causing so much trouble for yourself?’ or, ‘Is it even worth the effort?’,” he recalled. “But it was simply the price we have to pay for the sake of sustaining the environment.”
Today, the mosque’s caretakers are used to the bustle of preparing food in reusable containers, arranging snacks on trays, stacking reusable cups and providing beverages in dispensers or jugs.
In doing so, the mosque has cut down the waste it used to produce by half.
The mosque runs Green Ifthar from Monday to Friday during Ramadan. During other months, it runs the program on Mondays and Thursdays, when some Muslims observe the sunnah (non-obligatory fast).
The LPLH-MUI has shared its Green Iftar guidelines on the EcoMasjid website for other mosques that wish to follow suit.
The program starts with the mosque management setting a “no plastic” policy for food vendors that requires them to cook and deliver it to the mosque in large batches and not pre-packaged as individual servings.
The management then serves the food in their own containers, urging visitors to take only what they will eat during iftar and discouraging them from taking extra food for saving and sharing it later with others.
They are also encouraged to place their food waste, like chicken bones or fish bones and leftover vegetables, in a special bin provided for organic trash. Finally, the mosque management and the food vendors wash all the dishes, containers and utensils.
The mosque serves iftar snacks and meals for up to 250 people every day during this year’s Ramadan.
“We’ve been contacted by several mosques to assist them implement the Green Iftar concept. It’s a small step, but imagine the impact we can make if we are all on the same page, fighting for the same cause,” said Hayu.
There are around 3,500 mosques and 6,500 musholla (prayer rooms) in the capital. Most of the mosques that provide iftar snacks and meals during Ramadan use disposable food containers and cutlery.
The Istiqlal Grand Mosque, for example, provides free iftar meals for 3,500 to 4,500 people every day, all served in carton food boxes.
The grand mosque’s protocol and tourism service head, Abu Hurairah Abdul Salam, said that the management had allocated Rp 2 billion (US$138,000) for iftar meals this year. The fund comes from private, government, corporate and foreign aid donations.
Another green movement, #RamadanHijau (#GreenRamadan), has gained popularity among young people on social media. The movement was initiated by the environmental groups Saya Pilih Bumi (I Choose Earth), Sustaination, Hijau.id, Zero Waste Nusantara and Lindungi Hutan (Protect the Forest).
The movement challenges people to adopt greener habits, like bringing their own tumblers of water to break the fast and avoiding buying food and beverages in disposable packaging by bringing their own food containers and cutlery from home.
Saya Pilih Bumi representative Diky Wahyudi recently told the Post that the movement aimed to raise public awareness on habits that could potentially produce more waste during Ramadan.
“We want to encourage people to be more responsible with the food and beverages they consume. For example, eat until the last bite so there will be no food waste,” said Diky.
