A group of five undergraduate students studying Communications and Media Arts at the American University in Cairo (AUC) launched a social media campaign called ‘B-Basata’ to shed light on Egypt’s hoarding culture and overconsumption. The idea dawned upon the quintet, Nour ElBastawisy, Nada Mohamed, Engy Mohamed, Thilleli Ghezzaz and Reem Hassan, when they were assigned to tackle a social problem in Egypt for their graduation project campaign. While discussing the difficulties and expenses that go into marriage, the prevalence of overconsumption in the Egyptian society in all aspects of life was brought up. Egyptians are notorious for overconsumption. Many families store their plastic bags for future use, throw away excess food, hoard clothes that are old or no longer fit, and several other possessions that they do not really need. “Sadly, in Egypt, overconsumption became a culture with the mentality of the more the merrier especially when it comes to food,” El Bastawisy adds. This becomes a problem especially when it is material that harms the environment such as plastic. At the same time, many Egyptian families who was to declutter are often unsure of where and how to dispose…
