Three’s a Crowd Except When It Comes to Waste Collection in Amman

There is an old saying that goes, “Three can carry the load.” But in Amman, that proverb seems to have failed at the very first garbage container.

Three companies now share responsibility for waste collection, there are three contracts and three entities accountable for the service. Yet the result is the same: streets increasingly littered with waste, overflowing dumpsters, and a scene that does not reflect the image of a capital city that is meant to represent the country.

Ironically, having more hands involved has not led to greater efficiency. Instead, it has produced an abundance of shifting responsibility.

Every party has its own explanation, while citizens are left with little choice but to hold their noses and watch with disappointment as their city falls short of what it deserves.

Oversight, meanwhile, appears to be little more than a spectator. It observes the overflowing waste, counts the piles of garbage, and then moves on as though nothing has happened.

If oversight does not lead to meaningful change, what purpose does it serve?

What makes the situation even more frustrating is that, during the same period, the Greater Amman Municipality continues to highlight its progress toward digital transformation, smart city initiatives, and sustainability.

Yet the reality during this transitional phase of the waste management contracts tells a different story, The most basic municipal service is still struggling to function as it should.

How can the city convince either the international community or even its own residents that Amman is becoming a smart city when some of its streets, in recent months, have presented visitors with an image that feels closer to a bygone era?

A message to the Mayor of Amman:
You have devoted many years to serving the capital, and those years of achievement should not conclude with scenes that neither you nor the people of Amman would accept photographs of streets overwhelmed by garbage, or the frustration of citizens who have lost confidence that tomorrow’s streets will be cleaner than today’s.

Amman deserves for the accomplishments achieved during your tenure to define your legacy rather than the scenes witnessed today.

Your name should be associated with the progress the city has made over the past decade, and with ensuring that Amman is remembered as a clean city worthy of its residents not as one where piles of garbage overshadow every discussion of achievement. Much has been accomplished, and those successes deserve to be preserved.

Allow me to ask: Where are those entrusted with this responsibility? They are, by all accounts, experienced professionals.

And who is held accountable when a single garbage container proves more powerful than three contracts, more effective than the oversight authorities, and more resilient than every official statement and justification?

The question many residents continue to ask is not for another explanation, but for an answer:

When will we once again see our neighborhood streets as clean as they were before these contracts took effect?

And has waste management become the only issue important enough to deserve public scrutiny, while stories of genuine progress are increasingly postponed until another day?