Community collectors recovers more than 5,000 kilograms of bitter orange and transforms them into solidarity marmalade
The Barcelona Espigola community bitter orange collection project is making more than 13,400 units of marmalade this year. This is an initiative by the Mans al Verd programme by Parks and Gardens, in conjunction with the districts. The programme promotes the joint management of green spaces in the city with citizens as part of the urban agricultural strategy to foster wise food use.
The fifth edition of Barcelona Espigola, which was held from 6 to 11 February, recovered a total of 5,354 kilograms of bitter oranges from seven districts in the city. This year, more than 550 volunteers participated in the districts of Ciutat Vella, Les Corts, Eixample, Gràcia, Sant Martí, Sant Andreu and, for the first year, Horta-Guinardó.
The aim of the urban ‘Espigolada’ is to give a second life to the bitter oranges produced by the city’s trees and encourage locals to take full advantage of available food resources. To achieve this, the oranges collected are processed and transformed into marmalade at the Espigoladors Foundation’s vocational integration workshop. The result this year was 13,400 units of marmalade, which were distributed among different social organisations in the city. The jars of 100% natural La Marga marmalade were given back to the seven districts to be distributed among a total of 58 facilities, schools and other groups.
The Barcelona Public Health Agency is in charge of analysing the raw oranges to ensure a high quality finished product.
An initiative that reaches beyond the Espigoladors
The project also includes communication and awareness-raising actions beyond the collections, as environmental education workshops are held for the organisations and schools taking part in the harvest and for other groups agreed upon in each district. This thus promotes debate on the problem of food waste, while initiatives are shared for food reuse, best consumption practices and reflections on the right to access healthy, sustainable food. This year, more than 350 people from eighteen organisations participated in these workshops.
More information at barcelona.cat/melmelada-la-marga.
