Trash Bucket Challenge

Save your ice, fill your bucket instead

By Bernadette Simpson

Have you heard of the recent Ice Bucket Challenge? This social media campaign raises awareness and money about a charity by challenging viewers to donate a lot of money or dump a bucket of ice water on their heads (and still donate a little money). The campaign has gone viral and according to a TIME magazine article has inspired 1.7 million people to take participate.

Well, a man in Hawaii is trying to start a spinoff – the Trash Bucket Challenge. (Watch his video here.) He says, “The issue we wanted to bring light to is the ridiculous amount of trash that litter our beaches as a result of the world’s overuse of plastic.” (Read more here.)

The challenge is simply to collect a bucket (or bag) of trash from a public area, dispose of it, and challenge others to do the same. I’m not usually into these types of social media activities, but I’m all for raising awareness about the amount of waste we produce and thought this might be a fun way to get some rubbish off our streets and beaches. It’s too hot these days for big clean-up events, but it doesn’t take long to fill a bucket with trash so if enough of us accept the challenge, it will be like a big beach clean-up! Only we won’t get heat stroke.

So to get us started, I cleaned the street I live on. I did sort the recyclables (plastic bottles) out. I am sharing a photo instead of a video, well, because it’s just easier and faster. I passed the challenge on to all Dahabians and now I'm passing it on to you, wherever you are in Egypt! I also passed it on to some individual friends on Facebook. Who will you nominate?

Refuse ~ Reduce ~ Reuse ~ Recycle

Bernadette Simpson is the author of the field guide Wandering through Wadis: A nature-lover’s guide to the flora of South Sinai and An ABC Escapade through Egypt. To learn more about her campaign to reduce disposable plastic, visit:

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