Barcelona's leading food waste initiative recovers 850 tons of food in a year

Catalonia's largest food bank, the Banc dels Aliments, and Mercabarna, Europe's biggest wholesale market for fresh food, have partnered in an initiative to reduce food waste.

The project, called Foodback, is a food recovery center where wholesale companies bring discarded food, which is then repurposed and redirected to support vulnerable communities.

This circular economy initiative, which began operating in 2022, has already delivered notable results. In 2024 alone, it received 1,233 tones of fruit and vegetables, of which nearly 850 tones were recovered and redistributed.

"The process begins when a truck arrives. We first carry out a visual inspection, and if more than 50% of the food in a package appears usable, we bring it in," explains Ingrid Buera, Marketing Director of Mercabarna.

Once inside, each item is checked individually, a slow and meticulous process carried out by workers from the Formació i Treball Foundation, an organization focused on training and employing people at risk of social exclusion.

Of the food that enters the center, around 70% is recovered. "Everything that arrives here was originally destined for the recycling point. We recover it before it gets there," says Elisabet Viladomiu, Director of the Banc dels Aliments.

"The recovered products are either distributed directly to people or transformed into canned goods, such as baby food and juice. This extends their shelf life and prevents them from going to waste," she adds.

The products arrive at the center for various reasons. “Usually, it’s produce in boxes that have been damaged and can’t be sold, or surplus stock that won’t sell in time and is about to expire. Sometimes it’s simply because a truck arrives late on a Friday, and by Monday the goods will already be past their date,” explains Buera.

The center operates at full capacity during the summer months, as this is the peak season for fruit and vegetable harvests, and farmers deliver larger quantities of fresh produce.

New food waste prevention law

One of the most remarkable aspects of the project is that it works directly with wholesale producers, something that took time to establish, as previously, all surplus food would simply go to waste.

“We run awareness campaigns with wholesale companies. So far, we work with over 90 of them. It’s also important to track the produce and where it ends up, so the companies can see the real impact they’re making,” explains Elisabet Viladomiu.

A key reason for the growing cooperation from wholesale producers is the recent approval of Spain’s new food waste prevention law, one of the most pioneering in Europe.

The law requires wholesale producers to implement food waste prevention plans, which include making donations to social entities such as Banc dels Aliments.

“Our role is important now because we provide companies with official donation certificates, which help them comply with the law and also grant them tax benefits,” Viladomiu adds.

However, while the new legislation has led to an increase in donations to the Banc, they do not expect this rise to be dramatic.

“The focus of the law is on prevention, so we actually expect companies to generate much less food waste than they do now,” Viladomiu explains.

Currently, Banc dels Aliments supports over 114,000 people in the Barcelona area through a network of more than 300 partner organizations.

In 2024, they distributed 15,000 tones of food, with an estimated market value of €38 million.