The Green Ramadan Plastic Bottle Drive, coordinated by the Bengal Dragons Foundation, seeks to address a seasonal rise in plastic waste linked to increased mosque attendance during evening taraweeh prayers.
Ramadan typically sees hundreds of worshippers gathering nightly at mosques across Wales.
With this rise in attendance comes a corresponding increase in the distribution of single-use plastic water bottles. The initiative aims to ensure these bottles are captured for recycling rather than entering general waste streams.
Recycling bins have been delivered to participating mosques throughout Wales, where they are being used to collect empty PET bottles after prayers.
According to the Foundation, the campaign has been positively received by mosque committees and congregations.
Sheikh Muhammed Toulba, Imam of South Wales Islamic Centre, commended the effort as a practical example of faith in action, highlighting the importance of caring for the Earth as part of religious responsibility.
Babru Miah, Project Coordinator at Bengal Dragons Foundation, commented: “Ramadan brings our communities together every night. With more people comes more waste, and we all have a part to play in dealing with it properly.”
Plastic bottle recycling supported by Viridor
The campaign is being supported by Viridor and the Prosiect Gwyrdd Community Fund.
Prosiect Gwyrdd provides financial support to community projects operating within the local authority areas that make up the Prosiect Gwyrdd partnership.
Through the arrangement, collected bottles will be sent for appropriate processing. This includes recycling and, where necessary, recovery processes such as plastic-to-energy, contributing to wider resource efficiency objectives and efforts to reduce landfill reliance.
Organisers estimate that up to 100,000 plastic bottles could be collected during Ramadan.
Based on the average weight of a standard PET water bottle, this equates to more than two tonnes of plastic potentially diverted from general waste streams in a single month.
The Bengal Dragons Foundation, a grassroots organisation working primarily with South Asian and Muslim communities in Wales, has said that the bottle drive forms part of its wider environmental and community programme.
Additional mosques across Wales are being invited to participate as the initiative progresses.
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