The Islamic Center of Potomac Promotes Composting with Hands on Action (and a Game!)

The Islamic Center of Potomac Green Team Promotes Composting with Hands on Action (and a Game!)

Blog written by The Islamic Center of Potomac. 

The Islamic Community Center of Potomac (ICCP) Green Team’s mission is to make every aspect of the mosque, its building, grounds, and practices, green! It also educates the ICCP community about how to be an environmental steward, and partners with other like-minded organizations to protect the watershed.

The team started with launching a compost program in 2021 and since then the community has migrated to using 100% compostable plates and utensils and diverted more than 20,000 pounds of waste from local landfills. It also discourages the use of single-use plastic bottles by educating the community about the harmful effects of plastic through a fun video series, Good Morning ICCP, that involves the youth as experts in the field.

The Green Team shares, “Islam asks us to be environmental stewards of the earth – by integrating our faith and environmental values, we aim to create a more just and sustainable future for all.” In partnership with area and national organizations like the Chesapeake Bay Trust, Interfaith Partners of the Chesapeake, Potomac Conservancy, and the National Wildlife Federation, ICCP has conducted watershed clean-ups, nature walks, electronics recycling collection, hosted a faith-based environmental conference, and promoted water conservation by reducing plastic bottle use and using water-filling stations, and more.

Sufyana Johnson, Greet Team developer of http://www.RamadanRecyling.com/Patrol.

Ramadan, the holy month of fasting, has been a great time to educate the community. Green Team member Sufyana Johnson, a seventh grader in Montgomery County, developed a fun and educational game, https://www.ramadanrecycling.com/patrol, that challenges a player to sort trash, recycling, and compostables.

“There are ten levels of the game, each harder than the one before, representing the last ten nights of Ramadan, and you get to celebrate the Eid holiday if you make it through them all,” Sufyana explains. The game nudges the community in a fun way to reduce waste and promote composting, especially during the large community gatherings that happen during Ramadan, Eid, festivals and celebrations, and the weekly Friday prayer.

Looking forward, the Green Team will continue to raise awareness through collaboration with partner organizations that share a dedicated commitment to the environment. ICCP recently completed the construction of a community activity building that has many “green building” features and leverages water run-off to irrigate a native plant bioretention area. The Green Team is also partnering with other organizations to encourage the community to transition away from lawns to a more natural landscape that is better for water conservation. The mosque continues to look for ways to partner with faith-based and other community organizations to protect our watershed!