SU Cleans the Nile

By: Abdallah Abbas
@abdallahabbas13

Photo Courtesy of VeryNile

VeryNile, an initiative that aims to develop large-scale solutions to clean the Nile River, collaborated with the Student Union (SU) Sustainability team to participate in its clean up late last month.

VeryNile labels itself as the first initiative capable of cleaning the Nile and raising awareness on how crucial it is to protect the environment by eliminating all the unnecessary waste that have been piling up in the river for years. 

This initiative focuses on establishing the social and environmental aspects that would eventually aid in the removal of inorganic waste from the Nile.

VeryNile is concerned with developing different methods to help clean the Nile, such as recycling and upcycling solid wastes in the aim of reducing the use of plastic and in turn, reducing water pollution. 

Sahar El Ghandour, sustainability manager at the Sustainability Office at AUC, shed light on the office’s support to spread awareness regarding any of the SU’s initiatives. 

“Our share in this event was giving away 30 reusable cloth bags that we usually distribute in our events in order to encourage people to give up the use of plastic bags and to revert to reusable sustainable alternatives,” she said. 

El Ghandour has also emphasized how the Sustainability Office aims to spread awareness about sustainable actions in that such collaborative efforts can replace old unconscious consuming habits.  

An example of this is the ‘green rules’ bookmark/ruler added to the bags, that have simple tips for a sustainable daily routine. Previously, the Office of Sustainability has distributed it on campus during events in order to spread the word about refraining from single use plastic bottles.

“Our project was already set on doing at least two cleanup initiatives to spread awareness on water pollution and to get students to be more proactive about environmental challenges,” said Salma Samy, SU Sustainability Team’s general manager.

Samy also voiced the Sustainability Office’s eagerness to collaborate with an entity that was experienced in planning cleanups to ensure the safety and organization of the event. The members took control of this task, then a member got Very Nile’s contact information and from there the collaboration began.

She emphasized that the SU’s aim is to make sustainable practices accessible to the student body in an organized and convenient way and to promote these practices on and off campus. The cleanup is one of the many initiatives they have planned that serves to achieve this. 

An example of such is the Cairo Fishermen initiative, which was launched in January 2020 to support the fishermen’s efforts to boost their income and gain access to educational facilities and health services. The fishermen would get access to these facilities in exchange for removing plastic waste from the Nile. 

In addition, VeryNile has its own collecting center at Qursayah Island located west to the Nile River and south to the Rhoda Island, as it organizes certain activities for the sole purpose of eliminating wastes in the river and helping below average workers. 

VeryNile is collaborating with One Earth One Ocean, a German startup which aims to establish a clean environment, to launch an electric boat designed to pull out the wastes from the river. 

According to the VeryNile website, volunteers can take part in several events that the initiative organizes. These events take place not only to clean the banks of the Nile but also to raise awareness on the importance of saving the environment from wastes through using exposure on social media to attract the youth.

“By engaging in activities like the cleanup, we’re promoting more mindfulness in the AUC community as well as within the union by increasing awareness and pushing for more action. Collaborating with organizations and initiatives that are oriented towards social responsibility [such as VeryNile] helps introduce a wider and more experienced perspective to our small community,” Samy added.