Barcelona City Council has initiated a comprehensive new cleaning plan for Ciutat Vella, the city’s historic and most tourist-heavy district. The plan aims to tackle long-standing issues of public grime, illegal waste dumping, and unpleasant odours. Beginning this month, the initiative forms a key part of Mayor Jaume Collboni’s city-wide Pla Endreça (Order Plan), introducing a raft of measures designed to restore cleanliness to the district’s streets.
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The plan, comprising 130 specific actions and 42 main projects, resulted from over a year of pilot schemes and consultations with residents. For many Ciutat Vella residents, cleanliness has become a major worry, ranking as their fourth-highest concern after security, noise, and tourism, according to an El País report. The district’s narrow, winding streets, characteristic of its unique character, challenge mechanical cleaning and often highlight issues of public order. These concerns are not isolated; residents in other parts of the city are also raising alarms about urban decay, such as problems on La Mina street, and episodes of violence, like a recent group attack also in Ciutat Vella investigated by the Mossos d’Esquadra.
A Coordinated Approach to Cleaning
A central pillar of the new strategy involves a smarter, more coordinated approach to street washing. Previously, sweeping and high-pressure water washing occurred on alternate days. Now, under the new system, mechanical scrubbing will take place immediately after sweeping, a combination the council found significantly improves the final result.
“We’ve realised that when they go one after the other, the state of the street improves a lot,” explained Carlos Vázquez, the head of the council’s cleaning services. This intensified water-based cleaning will also apply to public bins and the district’s pneumatic waste collection points.
Certain neighbourhoods will receive particular attention. For instance, the seaside barrio of La Barceloneta, recently in the news for its lively ‘carnavalada’ parade, and Raval Nord will see cleaning frequency increase by up to two days per week, with some public spaces cleaned five or six times weekly.
New Resources to Combat Illegal Dumping
To combat persistent illegal dumping of rubbish bags and furniture on the streets, the council will introduce nine new mobile recycling points this autumn. These staffed units will operate Monday to Saturday during morning and afternoon shifts, providing a crucial alternative for residents in dense areas like the Gothic Quarter and La Ribera who cannot dispose of waste during the standard 8 PM to 10 PM window.
Additionally, 36 new public waste bins will be installed across the district, with some specifically designed to be ‘seagull-proof’ to prevent birds from scattering rubbish. The council is also standardising furniture collection, assigning a specific day of the week to each neighbourhood to streamline the service and reduce pavement clutter.
Targeting Odours and Obstacles
One of the most frequent complaints from residents and visitors concerns the pervasive smell of urine in certain areas. To address this, the council has created a ‘urine map’ to identify hotspots and will now deploy teams daily to clean these locations with new, more powerful disinfectant products. Dedicated cleaning will also improve in specific locations like Plaça de la Barceloneta and around the Font Carmen Amaya monument.
The plan also addresses physical infrastructure hindering cleaning efforts. A study identified broken or uneven pavements that complicate mechanical sweeper use. Consequently, repair work has already been completed on stretches of Carrer Tallers, Carrer Princesa, and Nou de la Rambla, with more scheduled.
During the plan’s presentation, Albert Batlle, Deputy Mayor and district councillor, described cleanliness as the “most sensitive element” for residents. He emphasised that while Barcelona already allocates a significant budget to cleaning, the key difference lies in the new strategy. “We are the council that allocates the most to cleaning,” he stated, noting the focus now is on how that money is used more effectively.
This philosophy was echoed by Vázquez, who summarised the plan’s guiding principle: “The clean attracts the clean, and the dirty attracts the dirty.” With this comprehensive overhaul, the council hopes to tip the balance firmly in favour of a cleaner, more orderly Ciutat Vella.
