Mauritania’s Women Demonstrate Practical Zero-Waste Strategies

In Aleg, Mauritania, a women’s cooperative is redefining sustainability by transforming desert dates into eco-friendly soap, while ensuring nothing goes to waste. These women extract seeds by hand, a laborious process yielding just 25–30 kg monthly. The seeds are then cold-pressed into oil in Nouakchott and turned into all-natural soap. Even the shells are repurposed as fertilizer or animal feed. Despite producing high-quality, sustainable products, the cooperative struggles with water scarcity and limited resources. With support from engineer Maimouna Mahmouden, they’re exploring sustainable desert farming and efficient irrigation solutions to scale their impact. As “guardians of the trees,” these women champion environmental stewardship and economic resilience, using platforms like TikTok to share their vision with the world.

DW