Home & everyday life
Which bin does it go in?
Barcelona separates household waste five ways, by container colour: yellow for plastics and metals, blue for paper and card, green for glass, brown for food waste, grey for everything else. Anything that fits none of those goes to a punt verd, a recycling centre.
Does this apply to me
Yes — everyone living in Barcelona, in every district, and it has nothing to do with your immigration status. In the areas where this collection model is in place, the containers are within 100 metres of your door. Some neighbourhoods use pneumatic chutes, mobile platforms or door-to-door collection instead; the rule about what goes with what is the same.
What it costs
Using the containers is free. There is a separate annual household waste charge, and on the council’s 2026 figures about 73% of Barcelona households pay between €27 and €51 a year, which is €2.25 to €4.25 a month. It is billed with your water bill rather than separately, and it rides on the domestic water-supply contract — so if you rent a room in a flat where the landlord holds the water contract, you will never see this bill, and you cannot get the punt verd discount below without the account holder’s details.
| Situation | Reduction |
|---|---|
| Household in a situation of residential exclusion | Exempt |
| On the Catalan water social tariff (the canon social) | 50% reduction |
| Additional resident, under the special water-billing scheme | 5% reduction per additional resident |
| Person registered on the padrón at the address with a recognised disability of 75% or more | A further 5% per such person |
| Using the punt verd card | Up to 14% off |
What goes where, by colour
| Container | Goes in it | Does not go in it |
|---|---|---|
| Yellow — plastics and metals | Plastic bottles and bags, yoghurt pots, drink cans, cartons, metal caps, aluminium foil, clear plastic film, polystyrene trays, plastic plates and cups | Toys, hosepipes, tubes, CDs and video tapes, and any container that held solvents or paint |
| Blue — paper and card | Cardboard boxes and packaging, newspapers, magazines, notebooks without wire spirals, envelopes, paper bags, sheets of paper, wrapping paper | Dirty paper — a napkin or kitchen roll with oil on it goes in the brown bin. Cartons and foil go in the yellow |
| Green — glass | Glass jars and bottles, without lids or corks | Broken drinking glasses, flat glass, mirrors, ceramics, plates, light bulbs and fluorescent tubes |
| Brown — food waste | Meat, fish, bread, fruit, vegetables, shellfish, eggshells, nutshells, cork stoppers, teabags, coffee grounds, oily kitchen roll and napkins, and garden trimmings | Sweepings, hair, nappies and animal droppings — those go in the grey |
| Grey — everything else | Cigarette ends, sanitary towels, nappies, sweepings, cotton wool, hair, used pens and pencils, animal droppings | Teabags, oily kitchen roll and food scraps, which go in the brown. Wood, CDs, toxic packaging and clothes go to a punt verd |
Where to go, and how to book
No booking and no appointment: the containers are on the street. If you are not sure about one item, use the council’s waste finder — type in the item and your address and it tells you where and when, at ajuntament.barcelona.cat/cercador-de-residus. Or call 010, which is free from within the Barcelona metropolitan area. Barcelona has more than 130 punts verds: neighbourhood ones, large zone ones on the edge of the city, and mobile ones that park in a fixed place at a fixed time.
How long it takes
Using a container is immediate. The punt verd card is slower: you apply at a punt verd or online and the card is posted to you, and the council does not publish how long that takes.
What happens next — and how to get money back
Ask for a punt verd user card. It is free, it is tied to your household’s water contract so anyone living at the address can use it, and it takes up to 14% off the waste charge — 1% for using a punt verd twice a year, rising to 14% for fifteen visits or more. Get it at any punt verd by showing the original or a photocopy of your water bill, showing the account holder’s name, NIF, address and phone number; the card is then posted to you. You can also apply online through the AMB’s deixalleries form at amb.cat.
What goes wrong
- Do not put household rubbish in the small street litter bins, the papereres; they are for what is in your hand as you walk past.
- Do not put a mixed bag into a recycling container, because one wrong bag can spoil the load.
- A neighbourhood punt verd does not take everything a zone one does: rubble, furniture, wood, garden waste and lithium batteries are refused at a neighbourhood site, so take those to a zone one.
- Fridges, freezers and air-conditioning units containing CFCs must go to a punt verd and never on the street.
- Fines do exist for dumping waste incorrectly, and this answer quotes no figure for a reason: the council publishes the rules but not the penalty.
Useful words
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Residus | Waste |
| Contenidor | Container |
| Orgànica | Food waste, the brown bin |
| Rebuig | Residual, the grey bin |
| Envasos | Packaging, the yellow bin |
| Vidre | Glass |
| Punt verd, deixalleria | Recycling centre |
| Papereres | Street litter bins |
| Gratuït | Free |
Read next
- How do I get rid of an old sofa, mattress or fridge? — the free weekly street collection, and the fridge rule.
- What is 010, and what can it actually do for me? — the free line that will tell you your street’s day.
Official source
Barcelona City Council, “Contenedores en la calle”, at ajuntament.barcelona.cat/neteja-i-residus, for what goes in each colour. The waste charge and its reductions, the punt verd network and the punt verd card are on the same site.
Sources & checks
Barcelona City Council · street containers, the five waste streams ↗
Fact-checked against the official source shown above. Not yet reviewed by a community admin. For procedures, confirm current requirements with the relevant official service.