Solar-powered containers used to clean Makkah’s central area

Makkah : Makkah Municipality is doing its best with high-tech equipment for dealing with garbage including solar-powered containers, carriages and electronic brooms to help sanitary workers in cleaning the Central Area.

Since the start of Ramadan, the amount of garbage removed from Makkah’s central area, until Sunday, stood at 60,000 tons.

The general director for sanitation, Mohammad Al-Morqi, said the municipality is keen to develop cleaning work and is giving it much attention, especially at the present time when many visitors are coming and producing much litter, which calls for the best ways to remove this trash.

He said that the municipality is increasing its cleaning activities with the increase in religious visitors.

He added that they are finding new pioneering ways to do this in the central area through solar energy containers and golf carts, electronic brooms and other equipment, using other mechanisms in the central area and other neighborhoods to improve the level of cleaning services, and with systems in place to monitor the cleaners.

The director of follow-up and operations for hygiene management, Atef Al-Hikmi, said Makkah Municipality has to work with small equipment because of the difficulty in moving in congested areas, and they also have temporary containers to remove litter during human traffic jams.

The municipality has seven golf carts and motorcycles operating on solar energy to remove and bring the rubbish to the main dumpsters, with four containers operating on solar power.

He said in addition, there are 13 electronic boxes at the entrances of neighborhoods of the Haram to collect garbage.

All pavements around the Haram are also cleaned, in addition to its main roads. These are also swept every morning and at peak hours in coordination with the concerned authorities, in addition to 150 mini-vehicles, with 11,8000 workers on six-hour shifts.