Sustainablity is such a big topic, it can almost make you loose your breath. And when you see neigbours struggling and basic things not quite working 100% it can seem pointless to talk about rubbish in the street. However, every bit counts and we try to change our own mindset day by day. Here is what we do - maybe you can be inspired - or maybe you have some ideas for us?
Be mindfull of our ressources
In Africa the lack of water is more visible than in Europe. We try to limit the amount of laundry we do every day, so we ask you to tell us when you need a fresh towel or a change of sheets, instead of having a set routine.
We turn off the lights when leaving the room or go to sleep, beacuse we know working remotely means internet running and devices charging at all hours. We try to take shorter showers and not leave the water running while brushing our teeth.
Limit the amount of rubbish we create
Coming from Denmark where you have return bottles and reusable everything and sort our rubbish in endless categories, it feels so wrong to put kitchen leftovers and glass bottles in the same bin. But it reminds us that everything we throw away will take up space somewhere else.
The shops here are actually quite good when you buy eggs, flour, rice and so on, you buy by weight and you can bring your own reusable containers, or they give you paperbags.
In the souk you buy fresh vegetables (not wrapped in plastic) and you get a fabric bag instead of plastic.
We have arranged beach cleans on our local beaches. It is a drop in the ocean when it comes to actually cleaning up, as the rubbish handling system needs help. But it helps bring the issue up in people's minds. It helps change habits especially in the children and the tourists who are always happy to take part. And it creates a conversation about how we protect, the sea and the beautiful surroundings, that we all make a living from.
We have also made Villa X totebags from recycled cotton, that we bring with us everywhere to carry the things we need to bring home. As weel as keepcups to bring to the beach for coffee and tea instead of getting a new plastic cup everytime.
And a big winner for us in this area is our water filter, which means we can stop buying drinking water in plastic bottles!! We feel so grown up happy everytime we fill our reusable glas bottles with filtered water from the tap - what an unexpected luxury!
Social awareness
We dont have goodiebags with sponsored gifts at our retreats. As nice as that is (we love gifts dont get us wrong) It all adds up to a lot of unecessary spending. Maybe you dont like the t-shirt you get or the raw bar and you end up throwing it away or buying another one in a diffrent colour. And the stickers don't go anywhere. If we could manage to get our hands on free stuff, it would make more sense to give it to our local community - the people who make your holiday unforgettable.
Sometimes people ask us why we want to work in a place that has different laws and rights than in Europe where we come from. Morocco is not all limitations, there are also unique opportunities. You can't promote change if you don't engage and we see Morocco moving forward so fast, and we know the Moroccan mentality, so we see a lot of potential.
We are a Moroccan company. We pay Moroccan tax and any profit we make, stay in the local community. We shop at the souk and buy food, cooking, cleaning, hikes, surflessons and craftsmanship locally. We higlight local businesses - if our neighbours are succesful, it also benefits us. If you buy a beautiful new coffee mug or make a bargain on a berber rug here, you will be reminded of Morocco every morning when you drink coffe or step out of the bed onto a nice soft rug, and maybe you will come back and stay with us again.
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