As is usual every year, there is the question of how to recycle the huge heap of trash in the most effective way. There has been no effective mechanism to recycle a sizable portion of the garbage for commercial use, the Arabic daily Al-Riyadh reported on Tuesday.

The quantity of rubbish left by the pilgrims rises with each year,. There are more than 25,000 commercial stores and at least 15 markets in Makkah and Mina that serve Haj pilgrims.

All of them contribute toward turning the holy sites into a garbage dump. This includes plastic bags and cups, soft drink bottles, food packets, cartons, waste paper, tissues and so forth.

Talal Mirza, president of the Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the chamber had asked offices carrying out feasibility studies and providing consultancy services to undertake studies into the best ways of making investments in the recycling field.

“We suggested that these studies could then be distributed among various chambers in the Kingdom so that they can present them in front of businessmen and investors coming under their jurisdiction,” he said, while noting that these companies need not conduct their own studies before making investments in the field.

Mirza noted that the chamber had made this suggestion more than six times but to no avail. “Implementation of recycling projects would no doubt bring huge revenues for the companies concerned,” he added.