Barcelona Espigola

3.300 orange trees

In the city of Barcelona has

1,5%

of the trees are orange trees

#BarcelonaEspigola is a project to give these bitter oranges a second life and turn them into marmalade. After the success of the pilot started in the Sant Andreu district in 2021, where 35% of all the city’s orange trees are located, the Barcelona City Council decided to expand this initiative to other districts.

This initiative is managed by Parks and Gardena in conjunction with the districts, with the coordination of the Fundació Espigoladors, and it contributes to a healthier and more sustainable city while encouraging food reuse.

2025 campaign

On 6-11 February, #BarcelonaEspigola is back to give a second life to the bitter oranges produced by the city’s trees. This initiative is promoted by Parks and Gardens and forms part of the Mans al Verd [All Hands to Greenery] programme. It encourages people to make full use of food resources through green and circular economy initiatives that promote citizen participation to help make the city healthier, fairer and more sustainable.

This fifth consecutive edition of the initiative will be carried out in the districts of Ciutat Vella, Les Corts, Eixample, Gràcia, Sant Martí, Sant Andreu and, for the first time, Horta-Guinardó. Volunteers from organisations and local residents from the districts will take part in the respective fruit-picking activities.

Once they have been analysed by the Public Health Agency, the oranges collected will be processed and made into marmalade in the kitchens of Es im-perfect®, a vocational integration project run by the Fundació Espigoladors. The marmalade, which is called La Marga, will be distributed by social organisations from each of the districts to people experiencing food poverty and those at risk of social exclusion.

In addition to the fruit picking sessions, the project also includes communication and awareness-raising campaigns, holding a series of workshops in education centres and at local organisations to share with children, young people and the general public the problem of food waste and to exchange reflections on the right to healthy and sustainable food.

More than 600 volunteers took part in the 2024 edition of the project and a total of 5,375 kilos of bitter oranges were collected and transformed. The result was 12,400 jars of marmalade, which were distributed among numerous social organisations in the city.