Ruling on placing food leftovers in the trash, and using newspapers as a tablecloth for eating
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Q1: Is it permissible to use newspapers as a tablecloth for eating on? And if it is not permissible, what should be done with them after reading them?
Q2: Regarding food leftovers, some people place them in cardboard boxes or the like, and put them on the street for animals to eat, but the sanitation workers come and put them with the rest of the trash.
The question is: Is it permissible to place food with the other trash?
A1: It is not permissible to use newspapers as a tablecloth for eating on, nor to make them a wrapper for things, nor to degrade them in any form of degradation, if they contain any of the verses of the Qur'an or any of the remembrance of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He).
It is obligatory, if the situation is as we mentioned, to preserve them in a suitable place, or to burn them, or to bury them in clean earth.
A2: It is obligatory to hand them over to someone from the poor who will eat them—if found. If no one from the poor is found to eat them, it is obligatory to place them in a place far from degradation so that animals may eat them. If that is not feasible, it is obligatory to preserve them in cardboard boxes, plastic bags, or the like. It is incumbent upon the municipalities in every country to instruct their responsible officials to place them in clean places so that animals may eat them, or so that some people may take them for their animals; in order to protect the food from humiliation and waste.
Q2: Regarding food leftovers, some people place them in cardboard boxes or the like, and put them on the street for animals to eat, but the sanitation workers come and put them with the rest of the trash.
The question is: Is it permissible to place food with the other trash?
A1: It is not permissible to use newspapers as a tablecloth for eating on, nor to make them a wrapper for things, nor to degrade them in any form of degradation, if they contain any of the verses of the Qur'an or any of the remembrance of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He).
It is obligatory, if the situation is as we mentioned, to preserve them in a suitable place, or to burn them, or to bury them in clean earth.
A2: It is obligatory to hand them over to someone from the poor who will eat them—if found. If no one from the poor is found to eat them, it is obligatory to place them in a place far from degradation so that animals may eat them. If that is not feasible, it is obligatory to preserve them in cardboard boxes, plastic bags, or the like. It is incumbent upon the municipalities in every country to instruct their responsible officials to place them in clean places so that animals may eat them, or so that some people may take them for their animals; in order to protect the food from humiliation and waste.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.