Tangier Faces Waste Crisis as Garbage Collection Falters

The observation is alarming. "Entire neighborhoods are collapsing under the waste," observes Al Akhbar. One of them is Béni Ouryaghel. It has turned into an open-air dump. At the origin of this situation, the "change in schedule" of the companies in charge of sanitation. They now limit themselves to a single daily collection. Yet they used to operate several rotations in high-density areas. Despite the sum of 304 million dirhams released per year for the management of waste generated by the people of Tangier, the city council is struggling to obtain the expected results. A situation denounced by elected officials and councilors.

"Whenever a scandal of this kind breaks out, instead of treating this kind of problem at the root, the delegated companies content themselves with issuing small measures, such as renting additional equipment or using temporary labor, for the time of managing this momentary crisis," comments the Arabic-language daily. The observation is recurrent. Even during Eid al-Adha, the delegated companies in charge of sanitation, Mecomar and Arma, owned by Youssef Ahizoune, son of Abdeslam Ahizoune, boss of Maroc Telecom, stood out for their incompetence.

As Morocco prepares to host major sporting events, including the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2030 World Cup that it will co-host with Spain and Portugal, it is urgent to put in place adapted waste management systems to cope with the mountains of waste.