Fez’s 220 Million Dirham Waste Crisis: Garbage Piles Up as New Management Plan Falters

Several residents and community activists have expressed their concerns. In a statement to Al3omk, a local stakeholder indicated that the current state of cleanliness was detrimental to the city’s development and tourist image, warning of the health risks associated with the odors during this summer period, which force citizens to confine themselves. For a resident of the city, the waste was a burden, lamenting a lack of containers. Another citizen criticized the collection methods, citing the use of a "trax," and called on elected officials to delegate the file if they were unable to manage it.

Faced with these criticisms, the mayor of Fez, Abdeslam Bekkali, held a press conference last Tuesday. He announced that the transitional period for the preparation of equipment had ended on July 1, 2025, and that the two service providers were beginning to receive their new equipment. The mayor specified that 55 garbage trucks would be put into service and that an application would be deployed to allow residents to report "black spots."

The mayor also mentioned operational difficulties, indicating that "the weakness of the flow in certain areas" made it difficult to use the GPS system to monitor equipment and personnel. However, he assured that the municipal council would closely monitor the execution of the contract and apply financial penalties to the companies in case of non-compliance with the specifications.

For the record, the delegated waste management contract for the city of Fez was won by the companies MECOMAR and SOS for a period of seven years and an amount of 220 million dirhams, after the end of the contract with the former service provider Ozone.