Amman, July 15 (Petra) - The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Monday with the Waste Recycling Cooperative Association to implement the plastic recycling project in mosques.

The ministry's Secretary-General, Ismail Khataba, who inked the memo with the association's president Hussein Abu Jabal, said it will help promote institutional and community-based environmental culture through more than 5,000 mosques, whose weekly Friday sermons reach thousands of citizens across the Kingdom.

The pioneering initiative, he said, will start in about 100 mosques, with a gradual expansion to include grand mosques across all governorates.

The project will organize specialized training workshops for collecting, sorting, and recycling waste generated in mosques, particularly plastic water bottles and cardboard.

He said recycling and cleanliness fit into religious principles, which deems cleanliness as a genuine tenet of the faith.

Khataba voiced hope that the project extends sustainable environmental practices to homes and society as a whole, as envisaged by Jordan's 2026–2027 National Cleanliness and Anti-Littering Strategy.

Abu Jabal, for his part, noted that changing community behavior and reinforcing environmental protection have been a primary objective of the association.

Waste recycling has important environmental, economic, and social dimensions as it provides employment opportunities for thousands, contributes to supporting families and improves their sources of income.

//Petra//HA