Madrid cleaning complaints fall 67% since 2019, but citizen notices surge 40% in 2026
The Madrid city council says formal complaints about street cleaning have dropped by two-thirds since 2019, while the opposition points to a 40% rise in citizen notices this year, exposing a battle over how to measure the city's cleanliness.
The data dispute
The PSOE's municipal spokesperson Reyes Maroto claimed last week that Madrid is "dirtier every day" and that complaints had risen 39.9% between January and May 2026 compared to the same period in 2025. The city government immediately countered that the figure refers to citizen notices (avisos) submitted through the Madrid Avisa platform, not formal complaints. "A citizen notice is not a complaint," city sources told ABC.
Madrid is dirtier every day.
Official complaints in decline
According to the city's own Sugerencias y Reclamaciones (SyRes) system, formal complaints about street cleaning have fallen sharply. In 2025, 957 complaints were recorded, down from 2,831 in 2018 and 2,947 in 2019, the last full year before José Luis Martínez-Almeida became mayor. That represents a 66.3% drop from 2018 and a 67.6% drop from 2019. In May 2026 alone, complaints fell 31% year-on-year, from 120 to 83.
- 2018
- 2831 complaints
- 2019
- 2947 complaints
- 2025
- 957 complaints
Notices on the rise
The Madrid Avisa platform, which allows residents to flag issues for quick resolution, tells a different story. In the first five months of 2026, 52,312 cleaning-related notices were filed, a 39.8% increase over the same period in 2025. The rise was recorded in every month and across all districts, with the highest volumes in Centro, Puente de Vallecas, Ciudad Lineal, Latina, and Tetuán. The largest percentage increases were in Barajas, Tetuán, Centro, Salamanca, and Chamberí.
City's response and measures
The city government attributes the long-term decline in formal complaints to a series of measures launched since 2021. The cleaning budget has grown by 53%, the workforce by over 2,000 workers, and mechanical resources by 16%. New services include graffiti removal patrols, inter-block cleaning, daily collection of packaging and paper, and a free furniture collection service introduced in 2020. A new cleaning ordinance also imposed tougher sanctions for improper waste disposal. Mayor Almeida acknowledged in October 2025 that street cleaning was "not at the standards we would like," prompting a shock plan with 300 extra workers and special district brigades.
Street cleaning in Madrid is not at the standards we would like.
