Tourism

Barcelona City Council's Department of Tourism, the Barcelona Tourist Consortium, the GSMA, Fira de Barcelona, the Formació i Treball Foundation and Hospitalet City Council collaborate to make this social return and circular economy initiative possible.

This year, Barcelona has recovered five tonnes of miscellaneous materials, including 570 different pieces of furniture, used during GSMA MWC Barcelona. This has been made possible by a specific project undertaken by the industry’s largest and most influential global connectivity event, which is held by the GSMA and this year attracted over 101,000 people between 26 and 29 February: the MWC Donation Room. Thanks to this initiative, the materials that have been recovered will be given a second life: they will be distributed by social organisations to users of social services or to social and cultural projects being carried out in Barcelona and Hospitalet de Llobregat.

The MWC Donation Room was launched in 2016 to give exhibitors a platform to help the local community by donating the materials used during the event. This initiative has been possible thanks to the collaboration of Barcelona City Council, the GSMA, Fira de Barcelona, the Barcelona Tourist Consortium, Hospitalet City Council and the Formació i Treball Foundation.

The Donation Room has been operated by 23 people working under the coordination of the Formació i Treball Foundation. The materials were collected over six days after the end of MWC Barcelona, giving way to the stage of delivering them to the beneficiary organisations, which include La Nau Civic Association, the IRES Foundation, the Roure Foundation, La Nau Vila Besòs, Càritas, the Resource Bank and Pont Solidari, which will in turn share them out among other organisations. The materials recovered under this project include wardrobes, chairs, storage units, stools, tables and ornamental objects such as drinking glasses, lamps, household goods, paintings, waste paper baskets, bookcases and plants. The five tonnes and 570 different pieces are worth almost €26,000.

MWC Barcelona has been certified as a carbon neutral event for the last ten years and named by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest carbon neutral trade event four times. The GSMA’s environmental programme seeks to minimise the ecological footprint of MWC in five key areas: energy, products and waste, food and food waste, logistics, and travel and accommodation.