Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

One of the most notable activities in this year’s edition was the waste autopsy, where our three celebrities opened three bags of rubbish to find out what we, as Barcelona residents, throw away into our refuse containers.

Three famous Barcelona residents deeply committed to sustainability have carried out an authentic waste autopsy for us.

Armed with gloves, the chef Ada Parellada, the meteorologist Francesc Mauri and the instagramer and environmental activist Carlota Bruna came over to the Fabra i Coats: Creation Factory to open three bags of rubbish from a refuse-waste container.

Starting from all that, they let us examine what we, as Barcelona citizens, throw out and showed us how a considerable part of our rubbish could be recycled for a new life.

During the waste characterisation, our three celebrities followed the @Rezerocat method and, as well as separating the waste according to the 4 established categories (Avoidable, Compostable, Recyclable and Refuse), they also differentiated them according to waste type: Refuse, organic material, paper and cardboard, light containers and glass.

Such differentiation according to material allows us to estimate the greenhouse gas emissions that could be avoided by correctly separating the characterised waste.

A week packed with proposals

This was just one of the many activities taking place from 21 to 29 November as part of European Week for Waste Reduction, an annual event in Barcelona, the brainchild of a three-year project with support from the European Commission’s LIFE+ programme. At this year’s edition, Barcelona in particular is aiming to demonstrate, from an educational point of view, the impact of the waste we usually generate in our homes.

Awareness-raising initiatives on waste reduction are being held throughout Europe during these seven days, with Barcelona offering an activities programme aimed at presenting the waste-reduction strategies being carried out in the city and, at the same time, encouraging small sustainable actions that help to change the daily behaviour of citizens towards waste.

Other notable activities in this edition include the “Barcelona, Zero Waste: we’re acting against the climate emergency through reduction, recycling and the circular economy”Webinar taking place on Thursday, 26 November, at 4.30 pm, and the “The sea starts here” campaign aimed at raising awareness of marine animal care, through information plaques distributed along some of the city’s gutters.

Several virtual workshops have also been organised, such as one on Thursday, 26 November, at 11 am, on making face-masks from recycled jeans and another on Monday, 30 November, from 7 pm to 7.30 pm, on wax printing to decorate articles of clothing. Don’t hang about – check out the activities calendar for the European Week for Waste Reduction here.