Have you ever wondered what happens to the orange edges on the streets of Barcelona? Until next February 11, Barcelona will launch a new edition of the community gleaning of orange trees in order to collect and make marmalade with these citrus fruits.
This solidarity initiative will recover the oranges to transform them into La Marga, a 100% natural marmalade that will be distributed among social organizations that serve vulnerable groups and people living in food poverty or at risk of social exclusion.
In its fifth edition, the Barcelona Espigola program will count with the participation of seven districts: Ciutat Vella, Sant Martí, Gràcia, Les Corts, Eixample, Sant Andreu and, for the first time, Horta-Guinardó.
During these days, volunteers from organizations, schools and neighborhoods of the different districts, coordinated by the Fundació Espigoladors, will collect the oranges.
Subsequently, they will be processed in a social and labor insertion workshop, thus promoting the circular and green economy in the city.
The Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB) will be in charge of analyzing the fruit before processing, while the EsImperfect laboratory will supervise the quality of the final product.
The initiative is part of the Mans al Verd program, promoted by the Municipal Institute of Parks and Gardens, with the aim of encouraging citizen management of green spaces and promoting their conservation.
Beyond the collection, the project includes environmental education workshops aimed at participating organizations, schools and other groups in each district. In the previous edition, a total of 455 people participated in these workshops.
In the 2024 gleaning, 5,375 kilograms of bitter oranges were recovered thanks to the participation of 598 volunteers and 29 entities. Oranges were collected from 415 trees, which allowed the production of 12,400 jars of marmalade.
Barcelona currently has about 3,300 orange trees, which represents approximately 1.5% of the total number of trees in the city.
Registrations to participate this weekend are already closed, with all places sold out.