Two weeks ago, on Friday 22 March, the sun was shining down onto Maastricht and it was the first warm day after the long winter. Whilst many were still working or studying, FASoS Soylent Green Impact team members were working like busy bees on setting up an outdoor clothing swap event in the faculty courtyard! The idea behind this initiative was to spread sustainable habits at UM.
The idea was also to give students and staff members the opportunity to acquire clothes without contributing to the fast fashion industry.
In the Netherlands, according to Eureco research, around 124 million kilos of clothing is thrown away every year. Another alarming fact, 30% of the clothes in an average UK wardrobe were not worn once in the past year while we keep buying new items every other day! It is why swapping instead of shopping was the mantra of the day! Through their event, the FASoS Green Impact team wanted to raise awareness about the alternative possibilities to avoid fast fashion and reuse clothes. In addition to that, the clothes that did not find a new home were donated to the organisation ‘Stichting Aktie 68’, which provides help for children and disabled people.
Next to the clothing swap activity, participants had the chance to learn how to make their own environmental-friendly dish soap. This homemade product, besides being extremely cheap and easy to make, does not harm the environment.
Hopefully, with this event, students and staff members found some inspiration and motivation to adopt more sustainable habits in their everyday life.
Stay alert, the organisers of the event, Jana, Manon, Timothé and Charlotte are really motivated to organise an other event before the end of the academic year!
