Waste pickup and street cleaning in Barcelona

Pickup services for the five waste categories, collection of bulk waste and street cleaning in the northern area of Barcelona, which comprises the districts of Nou Barris and Horta-Guinardó.

The scope of the intervention encompasses a population of 332,542 inhabitants. As a result, the waste pickup and street cleaning service is managed with a staff of more than 746 workers, an outfitting of more than 166 vehicles, and multi-function pickup and cleaning machinery.

There are three pickup systems: side loader, dual side loader, and rear loader. Residential pickup frequencies vary by zone: trash pickup is daily; organic material, paper and cardboard, and plastics, cans, and cartons pickup is every other day; and glass pickup is weekly. Commercial pickup of trash and organic material is daily; plastics, cans, and cartons, and paper and cardboard pickup is three times a week; and glass pickup is once a week.

Cleaning of 11 city markets: selfcontained compactors are used for four, and a rear loader is used for the rest. Bulk waste is collected by zone Monday through Friday, and a general pickup service is performed on Saturday and Sunday.

Street cleaning is performed with manual, mixed, motorized, and mechanical sweepers, with morning and afternoon shifts. Personnel are present every day.

Mechanical washing services are performed only on a night schedule. The on-call multi-function equipment, called SENEI, is operational daily.