Amman is the home of nearly half of Jordan’s population that becomes the highest population city. Despite it is the third-largest area, not merely, because it is the capital of Jordan and the center of economic activities, but also because most of the refugees settle in. Amman is characterized by strong contrasts between poor, highly populated neighborhoods with a lack of urban services, and high unemployment rates, which are mainly located in the East of Amman, and neighborhoods that are located in the West but also in the Northwest and Southwest, where the active population is greater, the level of education is better, buildings and infrastructure are more developed (Ababsa, 2010). This disparity reflects not only the physical sittings but also the existing social classes and economic background of its residents which led many scholars to claim that Amman is divided into West and East parts. According to Seteny Shami (2007), “East Amman is the older part where residential dwellings are on the hillside and commercial areas are distributed in a traditional liner layout along the valleys. West Amman, on the other hand, is less densely populated and more fashionable. Most economic investments are centered in different districts there such as Abdali, Shmesani, Swefiyeh and Abdoun. However, a large physical and social contrast exists between East and West Amman” (Shami, 2007, p.208).
The growing population, the consumption driven urban lifestyle, and the various economic and social activities that take place in Amman all contribute to the large amount of household solid waste generated in the city, reaching an average of 4872700 kg per day. On average, the per capita waste generation in Amman is 0.9 Kg a day, but the amount of household solid waste in Amman is affected by several factors that increases or decreases the amount of generated waste. Each of the 27 districts of Amman generates waste at a different rate. The districts vary in surface area and population density, in addition to other differences in social and economic aspects. Statistics from Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) show that downtown Amman, also called the Madinah or al-Balad (city center), has the highest rate of waste generation reaching up to 1.8 Kg per capita a day. This is due to the large number of stores and economical and social activities there. On the other hand, Badr al-Jadidah is at the lower end of the spectrum with 0.52 Kg of waste per capita a day, which is expected since it is mostly a residential area with low population density.
Official documents of GAM show there is a significant increase in the amount of waste generated in Amman during the summer season in comparison with winter. According to the GAM, waste generation in Amman increases significantly in summer and during the holy month of Ramadan due to the return of expatriates to spend the holidays and the summer vocation with their families and the increase of various social occasions, like weddings and graduation parties. In conclusion, the amount of waste in Amman varies between different areas, depending on the activity type, surface area, and population density. Moreover, household solid waste is generated at different rates in different times of the year due to various social activities.
GAM divides Amman into six main districts for collecting waste. Each districts is divided into five areas. The highest amount of waste comes from the first district reaching approximately 500 ton/day. This district is characterized by its high population density and houses large economic, social, and governmental amenities. In return district six which located in the west part of Amman with low population density, produces the lowest waste that reaches around 300 ton/day. The study area of this research is part of district three which is so close or even an extension of the city downtown Figure 2. Accordingly, the estimated rate of waste generated from this part approximately reaches up to 1.3 kg per capita a day. According to the latest official statistics the population of Jabal al Natheef is approximately 150.000 inhabitants live on 1.24 km square. The number of the households in Jabal al Natheer is about 30000 with %61.4 of them is a household average size of 6.5. The collected data of the field survey shows that %52.6 of the households produced two medium size and %36.8 large size garbage plastic bags. %22.8 of the households produced more than two medium and large bags. Thus, the daily waste solid reach an average of 135 ton/day by residents and approximately 10 ton/day produced by commercial activities and retail shops which reach in total 145 ton/day.
Solid waste collection and transport starts at the generation points such as homes, groceries and so forth and pick-up points, pick up by the crew, trucks driving around the neighborhood, and truck transport to a transfer station or disposal point. The collection phase is the most difficult and complicated in most areas of Amman. In Amman, solid waste collection method varies from residential to commercial areas. In residential areas, the most common collection methods are street and alley services, the residents and tenants carry the single-use plastic bags garbage containers. In commercial areas, property owners are responsible for transport waste in the garbage pins. Cleaning the streets and the waste collection and transport of waste out from the neighborhood and the city is associated with the GAM sweepers responsibilities. In all cases, neither the residents nor the sweepers separated solid wastes.
GAM does not provide door-to-door waste collection, instead residents must bring their waste and put it inside the closest container in most cases . The capacity of each container is 80-100 Kg. Those containers have wheels so they can be easily moved around by clean workers to be lifted and emptied in the garbage truck. Recently GAM distributed containers that do not have wheels because to reduce their maintenance and to prevent the residents from moving them around. In addition to collecting waste from community containers, GAM employs approximately four thousand street sweepers who collect waste from streets and public spaces.
GAM operates different types of small and medium compaction garbage trucks ranging in capacity 1-8 tons that collect waste from the 21,000 garbage containers distributed throughout the city. Each compaction truck is operating with a crew of two or three, including the driver. In areas with high waste generation, the containers can be emptied up to 3 times per day, on the other hand, in remote areas and areas with low waste generation, the waste is collected every other day. The available garbage containers in the study area are 150 containers distributed on the garbage trucks accessible roads. The maximum capacity of these containers is 750-800kg. According to the field research and survey questionnaire the containers are distributed between zero and more than 100 meters from houses (% 33.3 less than 50 meters, %36.1 are allocated in 50-100 meters, and %3.6 more than 100 meters) Figure 3.
Amman began to grow organically on seven hills around Wadi of Ras el Ain, which is a stream that runs north-east from the plateau towards the Zarqa River basin. Since then, Amman expanded to encompass around nineteen hills. The topography of the city and its organic growth has dictated certain physical traits. The neighborhoods of Amman are built on separate hills served by streets and defined by natural terrain of interconnected valleys mainly in the urban central core.
Most parts of these neighborhoods are connected by the major roads and stairways. Stairways connected houses with each other and roads in the surrounding valleys as well. The center of Amman is famous by the large number of these stairs, whereas almost no stairs in the newly expanded neighborhoods of the city. A recent research by Al Tal and et al. (2018) examined the social and spatial effects of overcrowding on one of East Amman informal camp Jabal al Natheef, the informal development has affected the inhabitants' density which in turn caused huge pressure on basic services, including but not limited to the road network, infrastructure in addition to public and open spaces Figure 4.
Jabal al Natheef is located in the downtown of Amman and overlook the historical center . Despite this proximity, only two roads connect the city center with Jabal al Natheef making it separate and disconnected from downtown. The neighborhood itself has grown in unplanned haphazard way where houses are built adjacent to each other and connected by steep stairways and narrow alleyways. Originally, the neighborhood emerged from the Palestinians refugee of Mohammad Ameen which named after the owner of the land in the early 1950s. The settlement starts in the form of tents and then these tents were replaced by permanent concrete and masonry brick houses (Al Tal et. al, 2018). The neighborhood is famous for its high urban density, social problems, lack of security, widespread substance abuse, and poor infrastructure in services such as solid waste, drainage and sewage (Al Tal et.al, 2018, Arini, 2013). According to the Department of Statistics (DoS) (2018) the population of Amman counts 4,327,800 people live over 1,662 km². The average urban density of Amman is 2,604 person / km², in return the urban density of Jabal al Natheef reaches 120,968 person/ km², which is very high in comparison with the urban density of Amman (Table 2).
Mobility and accessibility form a major problem of services and facilities for the population living in residential parcels located on the rough topographical areas in Jabal al Natheef. Figure 4 shows the road network connected and serve the area. The irregularity reveals the topography, landform and existence land features like valleys surrounding the mountain as dominant factor that controls lack of alignment network such roads often climb impossible passages through steep mountains. Driving can be traitorous due to narrow roads, blind curves, and unprotected embankments sometimes on the edge of cliffs “expect the unexpected”. In general, driving in inaccessible mountains Amman is challenging with low level of road safety , drivers do not obey any lanes or rules and traffic directions. They were built to meet the driving needs. They are in reproachful states of repair and poor condition, unreliable signage, and inadequate for density of traffic. These roads consist of one lane per direction, without and division islands or painted line in the middle to separate cars moving in opposite directions. Shoppers, residents, and commercial providers lay there vehicles on street sides it normal to be stuck in major congestion in the mixed use streets. Parking on the streets can be impossible to find for service and inappropriate type and size of garbage collection vehicles. In this research, we rank links of a network according to their width, connectivity, and garbage compactors accessibility. Data collected from GAM shows that only medium and small size garbage compactors served the area in addition to the medium size trucks. The researchers overlapped obtained data with streets width and connectivity observed in the study area. Acerbically, the road networks classified into medium trucks path, small trucks path, stairways, and inaccessible residential parcels such a ranking can be particularly helpful when we consider susceptibility to be connected to the SW collecting and transport Figure 5. Out of 66 streets 41 streets 68.2% could be accessed by medium and small compactors and 15 streets 22.7% only accessed by small garbage compactors and small trucks. The impeccable about 40 stairways and less than 2 meter passageways are served by door to door collection by the street sweepers. Figure 4 shows that the inaccessible neighborhoods concentrated on the edge of cliffs of the mountain. The responsibility and authority to minimize the risk that waste collection vehicle drivers might pose to public safety in these areas.
GAM was impelled to deploy some unconventional methods to overcome the major challenges in collecting household solid waste from Jabal al Natheef. The narrow and intertwined streets forced GAM to use small trucks to collect garbage instead of the garbage compactors. In general , these small trucks are used in Jordan for transporting various objects and commodities such as vegetables, livestock, furniture and so forth. Street sweepers collect household waste on stairs and alleyways which thrown by the residents. Table 3 shows the number and type of garbage trucks according to the collecting shift and capacity. GAM assigned 26 garbage sweepers monitored by two foremen, four sweepers are assigned serve the 40 stairs of Jabal al Natheef.
Areas with poverty, poor accessibility, and unregulated settlements witness the largest percentage of random waste disposal (Mamady, 2016). The residents of Jabal al Natheef spilled waste on stairs, alleyways, abandoned and half demolished buildings, and on the empty plots on the side of the hill which is a common sight and environmental hazards associated with such improper behavior increasing Figure 6. Women open their kitchen windows and hurl a plastic bag full of kitchen waste out onto these spaces. 75.4 % believed that it is unsafe for women and young girls to go outside and throw the garbage bags in the proper pins. Collecting this waste from those steep sloped empty lands poses an enormous challenge that demanded a special treatment. This open dumping of waste causes foul smell, breeds diseases and spoils the public image of the GAM, especially in the mountain side seen from the GAM administration complex and the main throughways in valley bed .
In some cases, GAM installs hiking ropes for street sweepers to climb and collect the piled-up waste by manual tools such as shovels and brooms, which are used for collection. Some residents have memorized the schedules of garbage trucks and street sweepers and intentionally throw their waste on the street or stairs after the shift is over. Although residents always complain about the negative effects the random disposal is doing to their neighborhood, they do not seem to know they are the main cause of the problem. Mamady (2016) concluded in his study that citizens who live more than 50 meters away from waste collection pins in Guinea tend to dispose of their waste on their own by throwing or burning it. In Jabal al Natheef, some residents must go down around 400 steps to the nearest garbage bin then up again to their house. However, this is not an excuse to litter your neighborhood, as GAM once provided small bins on the stairs which unfortunately stolen.
The residents of Jabal al Natheef should be aware of their negative behavior on the environmental aspects. The application of the protection motivation theory through planning and awareness campaigns could hold a solution since it raises people’s motivation to act to protect themselves. in addition to that, GAM should consider deploying participatory planning methods to make residents feel they are an active part of the plan. The ignorant behavior of the residents is a principal challenge in Jabal al Natheef90.7% of the study sample assisted that there is no awareness campaigns about solid waste collecting and management by GAM. Also, 88.0% answered that there is inadequate cooperation from citizens with the public and government agencies like GAM in addition to the inadequate containers capacity at the communal collection points. In conclusion, in places, such as areas with large and diverse underserved populations and significant unmet need, it may be appropriate and beneficial to both the community and the government agencies involved to share all or part of the same service area. In return GAM has to provide access to underserved people as possible, and, in some instances, supporting multiple sites within the same service area may compromise this principle.