Urban(eat)a is a project that looks for new ways to promote food recovery in towns and cities throughout the territory from the fruits of urban trees.
Across our cities and towns, we find all sorts of trees that give fruit, flowers, or other edible parts. But most of them weren’t planted for that reason. They’re usually there for decorative purposes, to offer some shade, or—if we’re lucky—to help capture CO₂ and give urban wildlife a home, making our streets a bit more welcoming and fresh.
At Espigoladors, we see an opportunity in all those fruits that often end up as waste. Our proposal is simple: let’s manage them differently and turn them into resources instead of letting them rot on the ground. It’s not just about preventing food waste—it’s also a way to tackle other issues, like the mess these fruits can leave on pavements. By harvesting and transforming these fruits into new food products, we can make them accessible to the community and open the door to a more social and solidarity-based economy.
Bitter oranges and lemons? Perfect for marmalade. Olives? Why not turn them into extra virgin olive oil?
It’s a global idea with local roots—valuing the edible treasures growing on our streets, in a way that’s inclusive, sustainable, and community-driven. It’s also a chance to get neighbours and local groups involved, working together and reclaiming the food in our public spaces.
Have a look—you might be surprised at the edible trees growing right outside your door!
These are some of the trees with edible fruits that you can find in your streets!
BITTER ORANGE TREES
Citrus auranthium
LEMON TREES
Citrus limonium
OLIVE TREES
Olea europaea
ALMOND TREES
Prunus dulcis
PINYON PINES
Pinus pinea
CAROBS
Ceratonia siliqua
AND MANY MORE!
What do we offer?
Urban gleanings
We organize urban gleanings according to the needs of each municipality in order to collect and take profit from the fruits of urban trees. A dynamic, inclusive and community activity that involves the direct participation of the neighborhood and the local social network.
Fruit transformation
We look for options to transform recovered produce in order to give it back to the community and the municipality, either through our social integration workshop es im-perfect®, or via external workshops or processing industries such as olive oil mills. In all cases, we carry out the necessary laboratory analyses on all products, both before and after processing.
Awareness-raising activities
From classroom workshops to zero-waste cooking workshops. For schools or institutes, for organizations and groups, or open to the neighborhood and citizens in general. A program adapted to the demands of each municipality.
New utilizations
We help municipalities to identify and develop the necessary tools to promote new proposals (R&D) for the use of urban fruits with a green and circular economy approach.
Are you a municipality and want to be part of the project?
What have we done so far?
Urban bitter orange gleanings
We have promoted urban gleanings of bitter orange in streets, squares and schoolyards in several municipalities of the territory.
Urban olive gleanings
We have dynamized urban olive gleanings in Reus and Lleida.
Urban lemon gleanings
We have dynamized urban lemon gleanings in El Prat del Llobregat.
Urban blackberry gleanings
We have spearheaded an urban gleaning of blackberries in Torredembarra.
Oil pressing
We have transformed the olives recovered in Lleida and Reus into extra virgin olive oil in mills and have distributed it to social entities in the municipalities.
Transformation into institutional marmalade
We have transformed bitter oranges from the participating municipalities into institutional marmalades in our workshop es im-perfect®.
Production of 10,000 jars of “call for action” marmalade
We have made bitter orange and lemon marmalade to make a statement about the food waste of all these edible urban fruits.
Urban gleanings combined with zero-waste cooking workshops
We have promoted urban gleanings with participatory zero-waste cooking workshops to raise public awareness about the problem.
Map of edible municipalities
There are many areas of cities and towns that have trees with edible fruits that can stop being a waste and become a resource. Through this map you can consult all the municipalities that have already joined the initiative, which areas we have gleaned, the people and organisations that have participated and the kilograms that we have recovered. You can also discover municipalities that have a great potential to become edible, as they have large quantities of fruit-bearing trees.
Our towns and cities are made to be tasted. Will you join the initiative?
If you are a municipality, we want to know your opinion about the initiative
WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED?
Municipis participants
participating municipalities
Municipis mapejats
mapped municipalities
Title
participants
Arbres espigolats
gleaned trees
Kg recuperats
kg of food recovered
The project in the press
Diari Segre
Voluntarios espigan unos 200 kilogramos de aceitunas en tres barrios de Lleida para ayudar a entidades sociales.
Version in catalan and spanish.
Social.cat
Voluntaris espigolen uns 200 quilograms d’olives en tres barris de Lleida per ajudar entitats socials.
Version in catalan.
Altafulla Ràdio
Jornada per espigolar taronges a Torredembarra, aquest divendres.
Version in catalan.
Ajuntament de Torredembarra
Prueba piloto para aprovechar los frutos de los árboles de los espacios públicos.
Version in catalan and spanish.
Torredembarra Actualitat
Torredembarra du a terme aquest dilluns una prova pilot per aprofitar els fruits dels arbres dels espais públics.
Version in catalan.
TN comarques (TV3)
La Fundació Espigoladors porta el projecte d’aprofitament dels arbres fruiters a Torredembarra.
Version in catalan.
Diari Tarragona
Torredembarra utilizará sus naranjas para hacer mermelada.
Version in catalan.
Ona La Torre
Prova pilot per aprofitar els fruits dels arbres dels espais públics.
Version in catalan.
InfoCamp Tarragona
Torredembarra inicia la prova pilot per aprofitar els fruits dels arbres dels espais públics.
Version in catalan.
Tac12. Torredembarra
Torredembarra engega un projecte per aprofitar els fruits del seu arbrat públic.
Version in catalan.
Ràdio Canet. Els 4 cantons.
L’Ajuntament de Canet i la Fundació Espigoladors signen un conveni per l’elaboració de melmelada de taronja amarga de Canet.
Version in catalan.
La Vanguardia
Canet de Mar elabora mermelada con las naranjas de los frutales de las calles.
Version in catalan and spanish.
La Clau
L’Ajuntament de Canet de Mar, en col·laboració amb la Fundació Espigoladors, ha posat en marxa la elaboració de melmelada de taronja amarga.
Version in catalan.
El Far.cat
La Fundació Espigoladors promou l’aprofitament alimentari dels fruits de l’arbrat urbà.
Version in catalan.
El Prat Digital
Espigoladors promou l’aprofitament alimentari de les fruites dels arbres urbans.
Version in catalan.
Món sostenible
Neix un projecte per recollir, aprofitar i menjar els fruits dels arbres fruiters dels pobles i ciutats.
Version in catalan.
El Prat al Dia
La fundació espigoladors presenta el projecte Urban(eat)a per promoure l’aprofitament alimentari dels fruits de l’arbrat urbà dels municipis del territori.
Version in catalan.
Altafulla Ràdio
Nova acció dels espigoladors, a les moreres del carrer de l’Àncora de Torredembarra.
Version in catalan.
Llobregat Digital
Les taronges amargues que produeixen els 181 tarongers que hi ha a parcs i carrers d’Esplugues tindran un ús gràcies a la Fundació Espigoladors del Prat.
Version in catalan.
TAC 12
Torredembarra lluita contra el malbaratament alimentari.
Version in catalan.
Llobregat Digital
Estudiants de l’Institut de Sales i veïns i veïnes del barri de Sales van participar en l’espigolada de tarongers amargs a Viladecans.
Version in catalan.
TV Mataró
La melmelada Mataró, feta amb taronges d’un parc de la Llàntia.
Version in catalan.
Ràdio Sant Andreu
Sant Andreu de la Barca transforma les taronges urbanes en melmelada amb un projecte comunitari i sostenible.
Version in catalan.
El Far
Un projecte d’aprofitament alimentari elaborarà melmelada amb els tarongers dels carrers.
Version in catalan.
La Ciutat
El Ayuntamiento dispone de 3.000 botes de mermelada procedente de los naranjos de las calles de Reus.
Version in catalan and spanish.
Diari de Tarragona
Si Reus et dona taronges… fes melmelada!
Version in catalan.
Reus Digital
Reus, amb 3.000 pots de melmelada de taronja amarga per combatre el malbaratament alimentari.
Version in catalan.
Other related international initiatives
- Falling Fruit. An NGO that quantifies on an international level through an interactive map the culinary richness of the streets of our cities. Discover it!
- Linaria. An NGO that has created “Frutta Urbana”, the first Italian project to map, collect and distribute fruit in the city of Rome and create new orchards. Discover it!
- Vild Mad. An application that presents Danish nature so that citizens can learn about the fruits and herbs present in their territory and discover how to harvest and cook them. Discover it!
- “#CosechaUrbana”. A campaign promoted in the social networks of Disco Sopa Chile to encourage and promote the use of the fruits that the city gives us, preventing them from being lost. Discover it!
- Lab & Kitchen’s Rijnvliet. An initiative that not only underscores the importance of local food production, but also harnesses the power of community participation in the management and use of local food resources. Discover it!
- Edible Cities Network. A global network of cities, initiatives and individuals working together to promote more sustainable urban food systems in cities around the world. Discover it!
- Shedia. A Greek social entity that has just started a project for the recovery and transformation of the city’s bitter oranges. Discover it!
