The Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Corporation (SWCorp) and the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Department (JAWI) are working together in handling waste at 845 mosques and surau in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan, as well as 62 registered religious schools and tahfiz institutions.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two agencies was inked today and witnessed by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Datuk Dr Mohd Na’im Mokhtar and Minister of Local Government Development Nga Kor Ming.
Speaking to reporters after the signing of the MoU, Nga said among the initiatives emphasised in the MoU were the implementation of toilets in mosques and surau of BMW (clean, attractive and fragrant) standards, the construction of a drive-thru recycling centre (DTRC) in mosques with a large area and the implementation of zero waste at JAWI offices and premises (Pesis).
The MoU also covered JAWI-supervised activities and school recycling competitions (PERKISS), in addition to introducing the concept of hygiene, recycling, and avoiding waste, he said.
“The move is expected to help increase the national recycling rate to more than 40 per cent in 2024 from the 33.17 per cent recorded in 2022,” he said.
Nga said the largest composition of waste in Malaysia is food waste which is 44.5 per cent and the situation becomes something of concern during Ramadan.
“Based on observation at all 92 Ramadan bazaars for a week, it was found that the amount of food waste thrown away by bazaar traders is on average 53 tonnes per day. While the average waste per business unit per day is as much as 9.5 kilogrammes per day in Kuala Lumpur and 7.3 kilogrammes a day in Putrajaya,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mohd Na’im expressed hope that the cooperation between SWCorp and JAWI can be expanded to encourage mosques and surau in other states as Islamic religious affairs are under the state government’s purview.
Among the measures taken by JAWI to ensure the cleanliness of toilets in mosques and surau is to conduct spot checks and organise competitions, he said.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency