A number of charity boxes put outside mosques and at shopping malls in Jeddah have been turned into trash cans.

Talking about the issue, Abdul Aziz Bakar, who lives close to Mushrifa mosque, said, “I often donate my used clothes through these boxes.

“However, now these have turned into trash cans, due to the negligence of the mosque authorities as well as the many people who throw their trash in to these charity boxes.”

Aasia Khan, another resident, said there is no proper mechanism in the city to check these charity boxes, adding that some people fill them up with trash instead of giving them to the poor. Khan called on mosque authorities to take up the responsibility to remove the trash from inside such boxes, as well as cleaning them once in a while.

Abu Faisa, another resident, said it is a good sign that mosque authorities are now taking up the role of these charities to collect old clothes.

Nasreen Fatima, member of a local charity group, said that her organization strive to help poor families but they don’t accept used clothes any more as they don’t have enough space and staff to deal with used clothes.

She said collecting old clothes should be mosques' responsibility, adding that some of the mosques in Jeddah are doing very good job in this regard.