Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

The initiative is part of the Mans al Verd programme by Parks and Gardens, fostering the shared use of green spaces and the city’s urban agriculture strategy.

The communal collection of bitter oranges around the streets of Barcelona is back from 2 to 5 February. The oranges will be used to make a 100% natural marmalade branded “La Marga”. Now in its fourth edition, this year’s collection includes the district of L’Eixample, bringing the number orange-collecting districts in the city to six: Sant Andreu, Les Corts, Ciutat Vella, Sant Martí, Gràcia and L’Eixample.

Parks and Gardens are backing the initiative as part of the programme Mans al Verd, the goal being to promote the use of food through projects in the green and circular economy, and fostering public participation to help towards a fairer, healthier and more sustainable city. Thee orange harvest gets under way today in the districts of Sant Andreu and Les Corts, continuing tomorrow in Ciutat Vella and Sant Martí and on Sunday in Gràcia, before winding up on Monday in L’Eixample.

Dubbed #BarcelonaEspigola, the collection is carried out by volunteers from organisations and local residents in the districts, with the oranges they pick then processed and transformed into marmalade at es im-perfect®, the social and labour insertion workshop for the Fundació Espigoladors. “La Marga”, a 100% natural product, is approved by the Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB), which analyses the oranges before production and also the marmalade produced, to guarantee it is safe for consumption. Jars of “La Marga” marmalade are distributed to different social organisations helping people in food poverty or at risk of social exclusion.

In 2023, the 333 volunteers taking part harvested oranges from 335 trees, a little over 10% of the total number of bitter orange trees in the city. The result was a total of 2,671 kilos of oranges, which produced 11,400 jars of natural marmalade.

There are more than 3,300 orange trees in Barcelona, accounting of 1.5% of the city’s 202,000 trees. The district with the most orange trees is Sant Andreu, with over 1,100 in all. Sant Martí has nearly 500; Gràcia, nearly 300: Ciutat Vella, some 200; L’Eixample, around 160 and Les Corts, some 70.