Barcelona recovers 45 tonnes of clothes in a month with new textile home collection service

And this is only one of the arms of the city’s zero waste strategic plan

Last month, the City of Barcelona launched its home textile collection service and in the six weeks since then, the municipality has saved some 45 tonnes of clothes from going to the incinerator. All in all, this amounts to 811 collection trips being done to different districts of the Catalonian capital.

This initiative, though, is only one action axis in the city’s overall zero waste plan for 2021-2027. The latter integrates a Zero Waste strategy into waste management planning in the city, rethinking waste prevention policies from this new paradigm with the intention to contribute to the mitigation of the climate crisis.

Other pioneering waste reduction initiatives in Barcelona

The textile sector is one of the largest consumers of resources in the world, with a huge environmental and climate impact and, with this service, Barcelona wants to take a step forward to improve the reuse and recycling of clothes. The service is aimed at citizens who want to throw away clothes, clothing accessories, shoes, towels, sheets or curtains.

In addition, there are other municipal initiatives that promote the reduction of waste generation locally:

• Renew your clothes, an exchange network for clothes that are not used, but are in good condition. It is about promoting responsible consumption, waste prevention and sustainability. This exchange takes place in the spring and autumn in different facilities and entities in the city and is open to all citizens;
• Renew your toys, an exchange network that takes place before Christmas and also in the month of May. The aim is to participate in a change in the form of consumption that is more responsible and respectful of the environment;
• The Reparatruck and the Didaltruck are two mobile self-repair units, the first one for electrical, electronic devices and bicycles and the second one for textiles that the City Council makes available to all citizens. The vehicles have all the necessary tools and have a specialized technical person to help users make repairs or mend their clothes;
• The Taula Plàstic Zero, which was set up in November 2019, already has more than 200 memberships from organizations in the city that work for the effective reduction of single-use plastics.

The Barcelona City Council has also organized a "Let's go towards zero waste" day dedicated to sharing successful experiences with waste reduction.