Specific cleaning treatments

Maintenance of Public Areas

In order to keep our city clean, we have organised teams which are responsible for specific cleaning treatments for the streets.

 

Cleaning gums and stains on the pavement

A machine with pressurized hot water cleans the gum stuck on pavements.

 

Cleaning vertical walls from tunnels

A cleaning machine scraps the walls of the tunnels to enhance visibility inside.

 

Graffiti

In Barcelona we have cleaning teams that are responsible for removing graffiti on the walls of city buildings and street furniture.

Communities of property owners are responsible for cleaning the façade of their buildings. However, the Council is responsible for those graffiti considered to be offensive or those which are in buildings owned by the municipality.

Technically, graffiti can be cleaned using three systems, depending on the support:

  • painting on the wall using the same colour
  • with water pressure
  • with sand pressure

The service can also act on street signs, information stands, beach bars or municipal concession kiosks. In addition, a catalog of labels will be introduced to help identify the authorship of the graffiti through an artificial intelligence system and a plan to reduce noise pollution will also be implemented in all the vehicles of the service.

Further information (PDF)

 

Stickers and posters

Although it is forbidden to place posters and stickers on façades of buildings, walls are often full of all kinds of advertisements and posters which have to be removed.

The City Council is making great efforts to detect posters, remove them and especially punish offenders in order to stop this bad civic behaviour.

The Plan for Impriving Street Sweeping from March 2013 emphasises cleaning stains and gums, collecting faeces and cleaning the shops shutters.