Waste sorting in Catalonia

In Catalonia, waste sorting is done through a system of 5 different containers:

Brown container for organic waste, such as leftover food, dirty wipes, tea bags, coffee filters, and corks.

Yellow container for plastic, including plastic and tin packaging, cling film, foil (if not too dirty or greasy), tetra packs, caps, tubes, plastic aerosol containers, and foam plastic. However, plastic toys, CDs, frying pans, lighters, pens, tape, trash cans, and floor cleaning buckets should not be thrown into this container.

Green container for glass containers like bottles, jars, and perfume bottles. But broken glasses and any other glass items should not be thrown into this container, only glass containers.

Blue container for paper, including newspapers, magazines, boxes, and paper labels. However, photos, plasticized paper, stickers, dirty paper, and tissues should not be thrown into this container.

Gray container for everything else, such as used toothbrushes, loofahs, rags, light bulbs, personal care products, diapers, the contents of a cat’s litter box, candles, paper clips, ashtrays, broken glasses, sharpeners, nail files, and more.

It’s important to note that some items cannot be placed in the gray container and need to be taken to a non-recyclable waste collection point called Punto Limpio or Punto Verde.

If you’re not sure about what container to use for a particular item, you can search for guidance on the website www.residuonvas.cat.