The Octopus

The SamZar Octopus: A Practical Way to Reduce Waste in the Fez Medina.

The Fez medina is one of the world’s oldest living cities — a dense network of homes, riads, shops, workshops, and streets shaped long before modern waste systems existed.

Daily life here depends on fresh food, small deliveries, and human-scale trade. But modern waste — plastics, packaging, mixed materials — doesn’t sit easily within this historic fabric.

The result is familiar to anyone who lives or works here: frequent disposal trips, limited storage, mixed waste, and materials with value being thrown away.

The SamZar Octopus was created in response to this reality.

Not as a single solution.

Not as new infrastructure.

But as a simple, decentralised system that works where trucks and bins can’t — at the level of homes, riads, shops, and streets.

What Is the Octopus?

The Octopus is a practical waste-reduction system built around separation at the source.

Instead of treating waste as one problem, it separates it into eight clear streams — called tentacles — including food waste, reuse and repair, recycling, plastics, water, and energy.

Each tentacle follows the same simple rhythm:

Reduce → Separate → Store → Dispose less often

This approach:

• reduces smell and mess
• prevents contamination
• lowers overall waste volume
• makes reuse and recycling realistic
• fits small spaces and daily routines

You don’t need to do everything at once.

You start with what fits your space — and grow from there.

Why the Octopus Works in the Medina?

The Octopus is designed specifically for places like Fez, where:

• streets are pedestrian
• storage space is limited
• food is prepared daily
• rooftops and courtyards are shared
• traditions of reuse and craft already exist

Rather than replacing these practices, the Octopus builds on them — giving everyday habits a clear structure.

Most people begin with reusable bags and food-waste separation, then add more tentacles when ready.

A Community System, Not a Rulebook.

The Octopus is intentionally flexible.

What works in a riad kitchen may be different from what works in a family home or a small shop. Access to composting, storage space, and disposal routes varies from place to place.

That’s why the system adapts to:

• homes
• riads and hotels
• shops and small businesses

Each setting has its own starting points and rhythms, while sharing the same guiding principles.

Choose Your Path
To make the Octopus easy to use in real life, we’ve created tailored guides for different settings:

For Riads & Hotels
A hospitality-focused approach that reduces daily waste, improves kitchen routines, and supports clear guest communication.

For Shops & Businesses
A trade-friendly system that reduces packaging, organises storage, and lowers disposal frequency.

For My Home
A calm, achievable way to reduce household waste — step by step, without perfection.
Start where you are.
Add more when it feels right.

Start Small
Most Octopus journeys begin with:

• one reusable bag
• one food-waste container

That’s enough to begin changing habits.
From there, the system grows — tentacle by tentacle — into something that supports cleaner spaces, healthier streets, and a more resilient medina.

Reduce · Separate · Store · Repeat