Ciutat Vella launches a plan to improve and optimize cleaning and waste collection in all neighborhoods

130 actions and 42 improvement projects in cleaning, waste collection, and increased civic responsibility

The Barcelona City Council is launching this March in the Ciutat Vella District an improvement plan for cleaning and waste collection in all neighborhoods, as part of the municipal Pla Endreça and following the district strategy within the Pact for Ciutat Vella. The district had already started a pilot test in February 2025 to combat incivility and analyze points of improvement in the district. Following this work, a plan with 130 specific actions and 42 projects has now been designed, to be implemented from this month in all neighborhoods of the district, within Barcelona's current cleaning contract.

The design of this plan began in February of last year with the first immediate actions and more than a dozen meetings, gatherings, and joint walkabouts of municipal and cleaning staff with neighbors and shopkeepers to analyze, apply improvements, and provide feedback to the public. As a result of this work, 130 specific improvement actions have already been carried out following residents' requests, and as of this March, the changes and new improvement projects are being launched.

More cleaning with water, of the exterior of containers and pneumatic waste collection hatches

Cleaning improvements in the district will address the increase and optimization of mixed watering (reg mixt), the street cleaning system that uses water, which increases the cleaning frequency by between 40% and 45% in Raval and Barceloneta in an initial phase, and is expected to be expanded to the rest of the district. There is also action to reinforce the cleaning of containers and pneumatic hatches by redistributing teams, improving procedures, and increasing exterior cleaning, with increments that double the cleaning frequency in high season and quadruple it in low season for these elements, changing from thorough cleanings 2 or 3 times a month to cleaning every 10 days or 3 weeks, and, in the case of pneumatic collection hatches, once a week.

A combination of street cleaning treatments will also be incorporated by joining dual mixed sweeping and the following mechanical scrubbing, which will now be done immediately afterwards and has been proven to substantially improve pavement cleaning with greater performance and efficiency. At the same time, scrubbing will be concentrated during daylight hours to avoid nighttime disturbances and will be reinforced with other treatments. To achieve this, the small street washers will be progressively replaced by dual sweepers, and the washing guns will be equipped with new adjustable nozzles that provide a wider range of water flows. Continuous staff training will also be expanded to improve service execution.

Regarding pavements, a study has been carried out across 100% of the area to detect and repair damages in pavements and sidewalks that may hinder cleaning. Some sections that have been repaved following this internal audit include different stretches of Tallers Street, Princesa Street, Peu de la Creu Street, or Nou de la Rambla Street (between Paral·lel Avenue and Drassanes Avenue), as well as others that are scheduled for upcoming works, to keep them in good maintenance and conservation conditions and to facilitate cleaning operations.

Adjustment of cleaning schedules in school environments and new anti-urine products

In the new improvement plan, a study has been conducted on the main points requiring urine removal, and daily cleaning of stains in these areas has been incorporated, extensively adding deodorizing and disinfecting products. Notably, the Ciutat Vella District has a network of 34 public restrooms in different locations throughout the district.

The cleaning of school areas in the district will be improved: they will always be cleaned before 9 a.m. and again in the afternoons, in accordance with school hours. Cleaning of areas with children's playgrounds will also be reinforced. Additionally, teams for collecting and cleaning places where people sleep outdoors will be increased, coordinated with the Urban Guard and adapted based on the evolution of the situation.

More litter bins and new mobile recycling points to improve selective waste collection

With the aim of improving selective waste collection and reducing the number of garbage bags appearing on streets during the day, this autumn 9 mobile recycling points will be introduced with staff for supervision and information, in the mornings and/or afternoons, Monday to Saturday. This service will facilitate that people who cannot leave trash between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. in the Gòtic and Ribera neighborhoods can use these points as an alternative service. At the same time, efforts have also been made to place more waste containers in locations where space permitted.

Throughout the district, since the start of the cleaning contract, 100% of the litter bins have been renewed, and with this new plan, 36 new ones have been added, adjusting their format and size in accordance with the proposals and requests of local residents. With this action, the total installed litter bin volume in the district has increased by 8%.

As for furniture collection, starting in the autumn, each neighborhood will have a single collection day: in Barceloneta on Mondays; Gòtic, on Wednesdays; Raval, on Thursdays; and Sant Pere, Santa Caterina and la Ribera, on Fridays. The goal is to ensure better understanding and identification of the correct day to leave furniture out in each neighborhood, thus reducing the amount of furniture left out on wrong days.

Commercial collection will also be expanded to Francesc Cambó Avenue, Josep Anselm Clavé Street, and the stretch between Joan de Borbó, Balboa, Marquès de la Quadra, and Ginebra streets.

The pilot test to combat incivility with waste reduces violations

The pilot plan for improving cleaning and combating incivility with waste abandonment on the street, which began in February 2025 in Ciutat Vella, has combined various innovative strategies, including dissuasive labeling with sanction warnings, a proactive communications campaign with environmental informants to encourage good practices, and sanctioning non-compliance enforced by the Urban Guard.

With just these actions, uncivil behavior of abandoning garbage bags on the street has been reduced between 30% and 42%, depending on the district zone and neighborhood, with the biggest reduction in Casc Antic (40.04%) and the lowest in Gòtic (30.23%). In the third neighborhood where the pilot test was deployed, Raval, a 42.11% decrease was achieved.

In the area of commercial waste collection, during 2025 the monitoring activity was reinforced with nearly 900 preliminary visits by environmental informants, 38% of which had a negative outcome, and 1,009 sanctioning inspections, of which 37% resulted in fines. In this regard, there is an ongoing inspection program for commercial activities, a specific program to inspect abandoned cardboard on public streets, and multi-inspection campaigns have been activated in high-incidence areas. All this inspection work concluded in 2025 with 838 sanction proposals in these areas.

More than 75,000 square meters of graffiti cleaned in Ciutat Vella in 2025

Also, in actions against incivility, cleaning teams and graffiti removal activities have been increased. In Ciutat Vella, in 2025, 36,277 actions have been carried out, resulting in the cleaning of 75,000 m² of graffiti and street art in public spaces. Likewise, teams and actions for graffiti removal in combating incivility have also increased.

With the new improvement plan, 19 more streets in Ciutat Vella have been added to the routine full graffiti cleaning cycle, which is now performed three times a year, totaling 96 streets with regular graffiti cleaning in the district.

In this regard, new specific communication campaigns have been launched in Ciutat Vella to promote civic behaviors and respect for coexistence, coinciding with the implementation of the city's new Coexistence Ordinance, which increases penalties for uncivil attitudes and introduces new sanctionable behaviors.

Specifically to combat incivility in cleanliness, during 2025, 43 campaigns have been conducted with informers and leaflet distribution in the area aimed at shopkeepers and residents, including actions developed within the Improvement Plan against non-compliance in Ciutat Vella. The campaigns can be grouped into four areas: improving organic fraction collection, preventing waste abandonment, improving the management of glass containers, and specific actions responding to citizen complaints.