Barcelona announces a plan "to reduce the abandoned garbage bags" in Ciutat Vella

BarcelonaCleanliness is one of the main concerns for the residents of Barcelona, according to the 2026 Municipal Services Survey, the most comprehensive one conducted by the Municipal Data Office (OMD). In fact, residents and merchants reported to ARA the accumulation of trash they suffer on public roads, especially in the Raval neighborhood, around Joaquim Costa Street. In this case, the director of Cleaning Services and Waste Management of the Barcelona City Council, Carlos Vázquez, links these complaints to a one-off failure in the pneumatic waste collection system. But those affected claim that the problem goes back a long way and affects many more parts of the city, especially the Ciutat Vella district. This Monday, the council presented the new waste collection service with nine mobile recycling points in the Gothic, Sant Pere, Santa Caterina, and La Ribera neighborhoods to “reduce the bags of trash that appear abandoned” in the district.

According to the municipal government, the new model of recycling points in the Gothic, Sant Pere, Santa Caterina, and La Ribera neighborhoods is the main action of the second phase of the district's cleaning improvement plan, which also aims to reinforce the usual manual collection schedule with morning and afternoon slots. They will be identifiable by a parked cleaning truck and will feature containers for paper and cardboard, glass, and packaging, as well as support staff to guide citizens.

Until now, in these neighborhoods where collection is manual, residents could only throw away their trash between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. From this Monday, they will also be able to do so between 7:00 a.m. and 8:15 p.m. Vázquez has insisted that whoever can throw away their trash at any time should do so in the evening, and those who cannot should use the trucks that will be available.

The schedules, however, will be different at each of the mobile points, which will be set up at the squares of Sant Miquel, George Orwell, Joaquim Xirau i Palau, Lluís Millet and Sant Josep Oriol –from Monday to Friday– and at the little square of El Pi –on Saturdays–; and at Cucurulla with Portal de l'Àngel, Dels Comtes with Pietat, Argenteria with Abaixadors and Argenteria with Via Laietana. Regarding organic waste and refuse, the service will be maintained during the evening schedule, except for people who, for reasons of mobility or other circumstances, need to throw this trash at the new mobile points.

The objective is to “simplify collection systems and avoid duplicities”, argued Vázquez. The general director believes that the system used until now was too “complex” for the residents, who were not clear about how it worked. Thus, the district is opting for the new method in these central neighborhoods where it is not possible to install containers or pneumatic mailboxes due to space reasons.

“A change of habits is necessary”

For the service to function correctly, Vázquez asks for a “change of habits” from the residents who are supposed to carry out selective waste collection but do not do so: he considers that with these changes “now there is an infrastructure that allows it.” He also referred to the people who used to throw away trash outside the established hours: “If you used to throw away trash at any time, now think again.” With this, the head of cleaning hopes to reinforce selective collection and reduce the abandonment of waste on the street.

By neighborhood, the city council explains that Barceloneta has surface containers throughout the neighborhood, while in El Raval, areas with containers for all five fractions coexist with areas that combine surface containers with pneumatic waste inlets, where organic waste and refuse are deposited. In the Gothic Quarter, a small part of the neighborhood has surface containers for all fractions, and in the neighborhood of Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera, both systems also coexist depending on the area.

A single day for furniture collection

Within the framework of the same improvement plan, each neighborhood will be assigned a single weekly day for the collection of furniture and old junk, with the intention of reducing “confusion” among neighbors and facilitating control and inspection tasks. The calendar will be as follows: in Barceloneta, the day will be Monday; in Gòtic, Wednesday; in Raval, Thursday; and in Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i la Ribera, Friday. The operation remains the same: junk must be left in front of the residence, on the sidewalk next to the roadway, between 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM on the corresponding day.

In total, the Ciutat Vella cleaning improvement plan provides for 42 projects and 130 specific actions. According to municipal government monitoring, it is 85% executed. Albert Batlle, deputy mayor and councilor for the Ciutat Vella district, has highlighted recent actions such as graffiti cleaning—36,000 actions in 2025 alone, 27% more than the previous year—or the 1,900 corrective collection inspections in businesses.