Makkah Mayor Osama Al-Bar recently revealed that the municipality is considering a new project for waste and garbage recycling in the holy sites.

“The project is still under review with no budget allocated for it yet,” said Al-Bar, noting that the municipality had signed six new projects to clean the holy sites during this Haj season.

“The contracts worth SR8 million are set to reduce the volume of waste by 60 percent compared to last year,” Al-Bar said.

He said that the municipality seeks to boost hygiene standards at the holy sites. “But the first step is to find the best solutions to mitigate the side-effects of waste recycling,” he said.

The cost of waste containers in Arafat and Muzdalifah this Haj season amounted to SR499,000 each, while SR999,000 was allocated to support cleaning operations at Mina,” he said.

The cleaning operations at Muzdalifah cost SR42 million with an additional SR480,000 for the installation of hygiene and cleanliness awareness billboards.

The three holy sites of Mina, Arafat and Muzdalifah covering an area of 33 square kilometers experience many unhygienic practices leading to the piling of huge quantities of waste and garbage.