In the heart of Saudi Arabia’s Makkah, cutting-edge technology is tackling an age-old challenge. Each year, millions of pilgrims converge for the Hajj, one of the world’s largest religious gatherings. The spiritual journey follows centuries-old traditions, but it also generates an immense amount of waste in a short time. Nearly 2.5 million people fill an area of about eight square kilometres (roughly 80 football fields), and during the Hajj season, rubbish bins and streets often overflow with plastic bottles and other trash.
Managing this waste is not just about aesthetics; it is a matter of public health and safety in the holy sites. Historically, cleanup relied on armies of workers and fixed schedules, but these traditional methods cannot keep up with the unpredictable surges of waste during pilgrimage. Now, a new pilot project in Makkah is quietly revolutionising waste management using smart sensors and artificial intelligence (AI), proving that technology and tradition can coexist to serve the needs of pilgrims.
The Hajj Waste Challenge On A Massive Scale
For the city of Makkah, keeping the holy sites clean through Hajj is a daunting logistical feat. The government spends over USD 500 million annually on cleaning and maintenance of the sites. Despite pre-planned cleaning phases before, during, and after the pilgrimage, the sheer density of people makes waste buildup inevitable. Traditional waste collection based on rigid schedules is often inefficient amid the crowds, as bins may overflow long before the next pickup.
Piles of waste pose obvious health risks, attract pests, and can detract from the spiritual atmosphere. Moreover, hauling trash in congested areas is time-consuming and fuel-intensive. In short, Hajj amplifies urban waste management challenges to extreme levels in just a few days.
This context set the stage for Saudi authorities to seek an innovative solution, one that could respond dynamically to real-time conditions rather than fixed routines. Enter the pilot programme known as “TUHR,” an Arabic acronym roughly meaning “cleanliness,” which leverages the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI to keep Makkah clean even at peak pilgrimage crowds.
Smart Bins And AI In The Holy City
At first glance, a pilgrim might not notice anything unusual about a TUHR garbage bin, and that is by design. But under the lid, each smart bin is equipped with IoT sensors that constantly monitor waste levels and environmental conditions.
An ultrasonic sensor measures how full the bin is, and a gas sensor can even detect hazardous fumes. These sensors are wired to a small microcontroller. When a bin approaches full capacity (say 95% full), the system automatically springs into action: the sensor triggers the controller to send an alert over the network to a central cloud platform. In essence, the bins “call” for pickup exactly when and where needed, rather than waiting for a fixed schedule.
What happens next is where AI comes in. In the cloud, an AI-driven software platform processes incoming alerts from across the city. It predicts waste generation trends and calculates the optimal collection route for waste trucks in real time. For example, if several bins in the Mina area are nearing capacity while others are still empty, the AI can cluster the full bins and map the most efficient path for a collection crew to empty them.
This dynamic routing minimises travel distance and fuel use, avoiding needless trips to bins that are not yet full. The system even accounts for context like time of day, weather, and crowd patterns, which influence how quickly certain locations generate trash.
Sanitation teams interface with TUHR through a custom app and dashboard. Workers receive smartphone notifications pinpointing which bins need attention and showing the optimised route to service them. As they empty a bin, they update its status in the app, instantly feeding data back into the system. This closes the loop, so the AI knows those bins are reset to empty and can focus on other hotspots.
City administrators, meanwhile, have a live dashboard overview: they can see fill levels across all bins, respond to any overflow alerts, and even get warnings if a bin’s gas sensor detects something like smoke. In short, the entire waste management cycle becomes data-driven and responsive, a stark contrast to the old method of crews making rounds not knowing where overflow might be happening.
Cleaner Streets And Safer Operations
Though the TUHR smart waste system is still a pilot, early trials have yielded impressive results that underscore its potential. During peak crowd times, uncollected waste was cut by 40% in the trial areas, meaning far fewer overflowing bins in busy pilgrimage zones.
This immediate improvement in cleanliness has a ripple effect: cleaner public areas not only reduce health hazards but also improve pilgrims’ perception of the holy city’s hygiene standards. Pilgrims have traditionally had to navigate around piles of trash at the busiest moments of Hajj, so a noticeable reduction in such scenes is a welcome change.
Operational benefits are evident as well. By intelligently routing collection trucks only to where they are needed, the city achieved about 20% savings in fuel costs for waste transport. In an era of both high fuel prices and environmental concern, this efficiency in fuel usage is significant. It also means lower carbon emissions from city operations during Hajj, aligning with broader sustainability goals.
Importantly, smarter routing and timing make the job safer and easier for sanitation workers. Rather than racing to handle overflowing garbage in a reactive rush, workers can follow a proactive plan with real-time visibility, reducing their exposure to hazards like spilt waste or frantic driving through crowds. In essence, the technology turns waste collection into a precision task rather than an ad-hoc scramble, enhancing both safety and effectiveness.
City officials note that TUHR’s approach is in harmony with Saudi Arabia’s “Vision 2030” economic diversification agenda for a smarter, more sustainable future. While avoiding the usual buzzwords, the practical outcomes speak volumes.
The system exemplifies how digital transformation can directly improve the quality of life in a culturally important context. It is not technology for its own sake; it is solving a tangible problem in service of the pilgrims and the environment. By dynamically allocating resources, the city can do more with the same or fewer resources, which is a key principle of sustainable urban management.
Embracing Innovation Without Disrupting Tradition
One of the most striking aspects of the smart waste pilot in Makkah is how seamlessly it integrates with the traditional Hajj environment. The pilgrimage rituals remain entirely unchanged; pilgrims likely have no idea that a “quiet revolution” in waste management is running in the background. And that is exactly the point: technology is used here as an unobtrusive support to improve cleanliness and safety, without intruding on the sanctity of the experience.
The bins themselves, though smart, look ordinary and do not disturb the visual or spiritual context. The data collection happens silently, and responses are coordinated largely out of sight, perhaps with a sanitation worker appearing at just the right moment to empty a bin before it becomes a problem.
This approach, blending tradition with innovation, offers a model for other cities and sectors as well. It demonstrates that modernising services at a historic or religious site need not come at the expense of tradition or authenticity. In fact, by tackling an age-old issue (waste) smartly, the authorities are preserving the cleanliness and dignity of the holy sites, which ultimately honours the tradition.
Pilgrims performing rites stoning the Jamarat or camping at Mina can focus on their spiritual duties without wading through litter, perhaps noticing only that things seem cleaner than before. Meanwhile, city managers glean insights from the troves of data, identifying which areas produce the most waste and when, predicting needs for future Hajj seasons, and planning infrastructure accordingly.
The early success of the TUHR system hints at broader possibilities. If a smart waste management model works for the intense demands of Hajj, it can be scaled to other contexts. Urban planners from crowded cities or organisers of large events globally are watching Makkah’s experiment with interest.
Imagine smart waste systems in major festivals, stadium events, or dense urban districts; the principles would be similar: use IoT sensors and AI to respond in real time, improving efficiency and cleanliness. As one commentator noted, this could turn waste management from a mere logistical task into a source of civic pride and sustainability.