In Barcelona only 7 of the 134 green points will take the battery out of an electric scooter. Lithium batteries are on the published list of what a neighbourhood green point cannot accept, alongside rubble, furniture, wood, garden waste and anything toxic, and all of those need one of the zone recycling centres. Those seven large sites are built for the commercial sector, but households use them free of charge, and the trip pays for itself: with the user card the annual rubbish fee falls by 1 percent after two visits and up to 14 percent after fifteen, on a fee that runs from 27 euros to 51 euros a year. Furniture is the one exception, because it has its own free street round from 20.00 to 22.00 on the day assigned to your street.
Where do you take waste no street bin accepts in Barcelona? To a green point. There are 134 in three tiers, and only 7 zone recycling centres take rubble, furniture, lithium batteries and flat glass. The 27 neighbourhood sites and 100 mobile ones take smaller household waste, free, and the visits cut your fee.
What only the seven large sites take
| Waste | Neighbourhood and mobile | Zone recycling centre |
|---|---|---|
| Lithium batteries | No | Yes |
| Flat glass and mirrors | No | Yes |
| Large appliances | No | Yes |
| Garden and pruning waste | No | Yes |
| Rubble, furniture and wood | No | Yes |
| Batteries, oil, bulbs, paint | Yes | Yes |
The table above is what saves wasted journeys. A neighbourhood site or a mobile lorry takes, with nothing to book and no appointment, clothes and shoes, ink cartridges, toners, electrical and electronic devices, cooking oil and motor oil, cables, small tyres, aerosols, car batteries, cosmetics, X-rays, batteries, paint and varnish, fluorescent tubes, bulbs and single-serve coffee capsules.
What they turn away is what is heavy or what burns: industrial, toxic and hazardous waste, clinical waste, food waste, plant matter, rubble, furniture, wood and lithium batteries. The lithium battery is the trap, because people carry it in with the ordinary batteries and it is not the same thing at all.
Cooking oil is the item most households end up carrying, and since dinner is rarely before 21.00 here the bottle sits under the sink for weeks. Two odder additions work at every tier, including the mobile lorries: cava bottles and old mobile phones have their own collection across the whole network.
And the lithium rule is a fire rule, not a paperwork rule: it is not safe to leave that battery in a street bin, which is why the list sends it to a staffed site.
The seven large sites, and the gap in the middle
| Zone recycling centre | District |
|---|---|
| Collserola | Gràcia |
| Vall d’Hebron | Horta-Guinardó |
| Les Corts-Pedralbes | Les Corts |
| Vallbona | Nou Barris |
| Sant Andreu | Sant Andreu |
| Fòrum | Sant Martí |
| Montjuïc | Sants-Montjuïc |
Ciutat Vella, the Eixample and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi are not on that list, and between them they house 546,125 people out of the 1,729,963 on the city register.
It is geometry rather than neglect. Collserola, Vall d’Hebron, Vallbona, Montjuïc and the Fòrum all sit on the outskirts or at the foot of the hills, where there is vehicle access and turning space for lorries. The dense central grid has no plot of that shape: the open ground inside the Eixample is its 48 interior courtyards, which are patios between façades, not yards a lorry can enter.
If you live in the centre and you have just emptied a flat, the practical consequence is that the trip leaves your district, and it is worth pricing that against the paid home collection before you load the car.
How close yours is
The Eixample is the district that comes off worst, with one green point for every 23,113 residents. Ciutat Vella has the best ratio in the city at one for every 8,910, and yet it has no large site either, which is the odd pair of facts that defines the network: the small tier is well spread, the big tier is not.
Les Corts has the fewest in absolute terms, 9, and still ranks second per head because it is the least populated district. Sant Martí has the most, 18, and Sant Andreu, Nou Barris and Horta-Guinardó sit in the middle of the table.
The Eixample makes up for having no large site with the neighbourhood tier, where it has five, more than any other district. The full district-by-district picture is in the districts guide.
What is not a green point, even though it looks like one
Four things have their own channel, and taking them here wastes the trip:
- Furniture is collected in the street, free, on the day assigned to your own street, from 20.00 to 22.00. The detail is in the furniture collection.
- Building rubble goes in an approved sack with its own municipal charge, removed within 24 hours.
- Clothes are collected from home on 010 with a minimum of 5 bags, or go to the 50 Roba Amiga containers.
- Fridges and air conditioners with CFC do go to the green point, and not to the furniture round.
And one thing only exists at a single address in the whole city: asbestos cement is accepted at the Vall d’Hebron site alone, wrapped in cling film, never broken, with gloves and a mask. Questions go to 934 280 496 or to the Catalan Waste Agency on 935 673 300.
Before you load the car
- Is it furniture? Then it is not a green point: it is the street round, free, 20.00 to 22.00 on your street’s day.
- Is it rubble, an appliance or a lithium battery? Then it is a zone site.
- Is it small and special? Then check where the mobile lorry parks before you travel.
- Take the card. Two visits a year already cut the bill; fifteen reach the ceiling.
The wider set of rules for putting waste out, including which system your street has and what the fee covers, is in the rubbish rules, and the fines for getting it wrong are in the street fines.
Work out what it is first, and where second.
Frequently asked questions about Barcelona recycling centres
Where do I take a lithium battery in Barcelona?
To one of the seven zone recycling centres, the large sites. Lithium batteries are on the list of what a neighbourhood green point and a mobile one cannot accept, together with rubble, furniture, wood and garden waste.
Do the recycling centres cost anything for residents?
No. The zone sites are designed for the commercial sector, but households can use them free of charge, and the visits pay you back: with the user card the annual rubbish fee drops from 1 percent for two visits to 14 percent for fifteen or more.
Which districts have no large recycling centre?
Ciutat Vella, the Eixample and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi. Between them they house 546,125 people out of the 1,729,963 on the register, so almost a third of the city has to leave its district to drop off rubble or furniture.
What is a mobile green point?
A lorry that does everything a neighbourhood green point does, parked at set places around the city at set hours. There are 100 of them, against 27 neighbourhood sites and 7 large ones, and they take the same waste as a neighbourhood site.
Can I take a light bulb or a mirror to a green point?
Bulbs and fluorescent tubes go to any tier, including the mobile ones. A mirror is flat glass, so it only goes to a zone recycling centre. Neither belongs in the green street container, which is for jars and bottles only.
Why are all the large sites on the edge of the city?
They need vehicle access and turning space for lorries. Collserola, Vall d’Hebron, Vallbona, Montjuïc and the Fòrum sit on the outskirts or at the foot of the hills, and the dense central grid has no plot that shape.
Tiers, accepted waste and locations from the municipal green point register, with fee reductions from the household waste collection fee ordinance.