Collecting and recycling plastic caps to support disabled children

A question about a group that collects and recycles plastic caps to protect the environment and gives the proceeds to support children disabled by polio, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that the initiative is one of the doors of good that fall under recommended charity, for which a Muslim is rewarded. ¹

The questioner asked whether it counts as charity when a group collects plastic caps and recycles them for sustainability and environmental protection, and gives the proceeds to support disabled children with polio. ¹

The Department answered that protecting the environment is a matter the Sharia attends to, citing texts that forbid corruption on earth, the hadith of Anas reported by Ahmad about planting a sapling even if the Hour is at hand, and the agreed-upon hadith that whoever plants something from which a bird, a person or an animal eats has a charity by it. ¹ It said the doors of good and charity are many and include every good deed the Sharia approves and encourages, citing a hadith reported by al-Bukhari that every good deed is charity. ¹ It concluded that collecting plastic containers for recycling and giving the proceeds to support disabled children is one of the doors of good within recommended charity, because it preserves the environment and helps those in need, and counted it among the good practices Islam calls for, citing a hadith reported by Muslim on the reward of one who starts a good practice. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 4022, dated 17 November 2025. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.