The cities where it rains more are usually cleaner and that is how the neighbors perceive it. But it is not an absolute truth, since cities like Albacete or Elx figure in prominent positions among the 60 Spanish cities analyzed by the surveys of the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU).
Alicante is again, despite adding three more points, the second dirtiest city if we pay attention to what its own neighbors say about it. The survey gives it 37 points, two more than Palma de Mallorca, the red lantern in the classification.
Oviedo, Bilbao, Vigo and Pamplona occupy the top positions, but the fifth one obtained by Albacete stands out, having gained eleven positions compared to the previous survey. Elx appears in the tail of the outstanding group of 22 municipalities whose index exceeds 60 satisfaction points. In intermediate positions, Castellón, which falls ten positions, to 29th, and Valencia, which with 50 points, gains two places and sits in discreet 47th place.
Among the dozen aspects related to urban cleanliness that the respondents have evaluated, the worst qualifications focus once again on the “excessive presence” of dog droppings on the sidewalks, in the dirt around the containers, in the existence of graffiti and in the lack of general cleanliness in the suburban areas. As indicated by the OCU, these are problems that “practically replicate those of the survey four years ago, which confirms the lack of progress in a large part of the populations.”
In general, the large Mediterranean and southern capitals with a large influx of tourists have the lowest ratings. Palma, Alicante and Seville stand out among the worst, followed by San Sebastián de los Reyes, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Barcelona and Madrid. Three of them in particular break into this negative ranking with force: Barcelona, ​​which has fallen 11 points out of 100 since the previous 2019 survey; Seville, which drops 10 points; and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, which in turn lost 7 points.
The satisfaction survey with street cleaning has asked 6,863 residents of 69 Spanish cities. Other notable rises in the ranking are those of Guadalajara, which increases 25 points; Lugo, who now has 18 more points; or Jaén, which also rises 18 points and thus ceases to be the dirtiest city.
Pamplona and Albacete, two of the cleanest cities according to their neighbors, spend 46 euros per year per resident on this item, compared to 114 euros in Barcelona. What does have a positive influence on cleaning, according to the OCU, is the number of rainy days, but, above all, the assiduity of cleaning tasks, since, “the higher the declared sweeping and washing frequency, the best grade”.
The OCU maintains that the municipalities “would get better grades by dint of more water and more brooms, without the need for expensive machinery, especially in peripheral areas, where it seems that they are little used.”
For all these reasons, OCU asks the consistories to increase the frequency of sweeping and washing down the streets, as well as greater control of dog excrement.