The environmental awareness campaign Mercabarna ran from July 2010 to January 2011 helped remind market users of good practices with regard to separating the waste generated by their activity. The campaign was designed to provide information to users and to foster their ongoing collaboration as a basic requirement for upholding the high recycling levels attained at the market.
The campaign involved 22 people handing out information to over 35,000 users from wholesale businesses and buyers at the central markets and at the Green Point, and was supported by visual material, published especially for the campaign, on how to properly separate rubbish and where to leave each type.
Campaign staff visited every stand at the central fruit and fish markets, where compactors were installed, to explain how to separate rubbish to the people responsible for waste management. They also showed Green Point users how to make the most of the equipment. Users were surveyed on their opinions regarding the selective collection model at Mercabarna and the areas where they think improvements could be made.

Upturn in recycling
Over the campaign period, waste recycling rose by more than 3% compared to the amount recycled in the months beforehand. The collaboration of all the parties involved in the selective-waste collection system implemented in Mercabarna in 2002 means that every year a high percentage of the solid waste produced by sales activity is recycled – a figure that always comes in at over 70%.