In this article, we do not seek to emphasize the importance of an ecological lifestyle. On the one hand, we want to show the real benefits of implementing biowaste collection and recycling programs in Portugal. On the other hand, we will talk about the programs themselves, successes and challenges of implementation in Portugal.
The idea of using leftovers or spoiled food is not new and goes deep into the past. In villages, biowaste can be used to feed animals, to produce compost for plants and agricultural products. In today's world, the collection and recycling of organic waste has reached a new level and has acquired other relevant characteristics. The improving quality of life and the lack of an obvious need to do something with leftovers has led to the fact that this waste began to be thrown into regular landfills with the rest of the garbage.
Biological, organic waste, biowaste is biodegradable waste from gardens and parks, food and kitchen waste from homes, offices, restaurants, wholesalers, canteens, caterers and retailers, and similar waste from food processing plants.
About 200 kilograms of organic waste is produced by each inhabitant of Portugal per year!
Each inhabitant of the country produces an average of 1.4 kg of garbage per day, of which about 56% is not sorted or/and not recyclable and is sent to landfills. (Source of numerical values) And, as much as 37% of all garbage is bio-waste, which can and should benefit the residents and the ecology of the country. In a way, throwing organic waste into landfills is like throwing money into a landfill.
According to Tratolixo (an inter-municipal recycling company), the leftovers a family produces in a year generate electricity for an LED TV for three months. By the way, you can find answers to all your bio-waste questions on the company's website. What can be thrown in a container or bag for such waste, why the bags are green, whether you can throw away soup or pet excrement.
Economic and other benefits of biowaste collecting and recycling
No matter how long you have come to Portugal or whether you have lived in the country since birth, the quality of life and stay of any person in the country depends on efficient economic processes. Many of us like beautiful flowerbeds, delicious and fresh fruits and vegetables, excellent quality of meat or even the idea of at least partial abandonment of oil and switching to biofuels. And we also like the reduction of taxes, the reduction of tariffs for services, which in Portugal do happen if there is a reason for it. Many people like social recognition, job opportunities, or the realization that children and ourselves can live in a better and safer world. And all of the above are directly or indirectly influenced by the collection and recycling of biowaste and the number of people who, thanks to an internal or external impulse, are involved.
Let's break down why the people of Portugal should spend their efforts on collecting organic garbage and companies on recycling; what are the benefits, including economic ones.
- Increase in the number of jobs.
- Reduced garbage bills. Firstly, for each ton of waste sent to the landfill, the managing organization pays about 30 euros. Secondly, we are talking about the reduction of bills after the introduction of the PAYT system throughout the country, which you will learn about in this article.
- Reduced imports of raw materials for agriculture and a potential reduction in the value of Portuguese agricultural products.
- Obtaining a biological compound or compost, which can then be used in agriculture and in the landscaping of urban flowerbeds. As we have realized, the use of natural compost can reduce the use of herbicides and pesticides when growing fruits and vegetables.
- Obtaining biogas from anaerobic digestion plants, which can become either fuel for transportation or electricity to the National Electric Grid for households and agriculture, for example.
- Improved soil quality in the country (water, nutrients, carbon retention).
- Reducing the space required in landfills, the odor from them, and the amount of methane released into the atmosphere. And within this logic, reducing the need to open new landfills, for example, in areas where some of us live.
- Improving the quality of raw materials at sorting lines. If a raw material like paper is thrown into a container with regular garbage, there is a good chance of diverting it to recycling if the raw material is not soiled with organic waste.
Biogas, compost and other products that are obtained from biowaste are products with high added value. That is, production costs much less than the product is worth on the market. That's why we compare unsorted biowaste to money thrown into a landfill. Potentially, if the environmental aspect is not taken into account, a well-functioning system will benefit the country, the municipality and every citizen. This can happen indirectly through lower fuel or electricity tariffs, garbage disposal, lower cost of agricultural commodities (or at least not so fast growth with existing inflation), and so on.
January 1, 2024
An important date within this topic, and one of the reasons why efforts are being made to introduce bio-waste recycling systems. On this day, the collection of biological waste became mandatory throughout the European Union under the European Waste Directive (WFD).
It is now the middle of 2024, and at the very least we can say that citizens are not 100 % aware of such initiatives. In Portugal's largest city, Lisbon, the collection of this waste is still not widespread, neither among residents nor among businesses, restaurants and cafes. The goal of launching bio-waste collection and recycling throughout the country is, alas, not realized by the stated date of January 1, 2024.
In the EU's published 2023 report on even more global targets: preparing for the reuse and recycling of municipal and all packaging waste by 2025 (this is about increasing the percentage of recyclable waste) and the landfill target by 2035 (this is about reducing the percentage of waste that ends up in landfills), Portugal is on the list of lagging countries. These are the countries that may not meet one or both of the targets, 18 in total.
Portugal, on the other hand, is close to meeting its packaging waste recycling target. Here is an example of a screenshot from a country-specific recommendation document from the EU.
By the way, the report mentioned several good practices implemented in Portugal. In particular, related to our topic: home and community composting in northern Portugal in cooperation with Lipor. In 2020, 15818 composters were distributed and 6343 tons of biowaste were composted locally.
Ferrous metals, aluminum, glass and plastics, i.e., packaging waste streams are recycled to below their respective targets. There is also an urgent need to improve the separate collection and recycling of biowaste in Portugal. Given the actions and investments realized, further progress is expected in the coming years. However, efforts should be significantly intensified to reach all 2025 targets.
What is already working in Portugal for biowaste collecting
In the country, each municipality receives funding through the national waste management plan and the implementation of the EU Waste Framework Directive. On public and EU level investments, municipalities have to analyze and select the most effective strategies for selective collection of biological waste in their municipality, as well as to implement them and achieve the agreed objectives (about them further in the article).
Here are a few ways that municipalities are considering collecting biohazardous waste. The methods may be combined or may vary from town to town in a municipality. The different collection options vary in efficiency, cost, need to modernize current systems, pros and cons for the consumer.
- Door-to-door collection
Households or organizations are given their own containers for different types of waste: paper, plastic, glass, bio-waste and unsorted waste. The containers are of different volumes depending on the source of the waste (house, apartments or organizations of different sizes). Removal is done on specific days for each type of material.
According to the Zero organization, this model has proven to guarantee more bio-waste collection and less contamination because it allows for better control over residents' trash sorting efforts.
This method is used for biowaste for homes and organizations, such as in the municipality of Almada.
- Separate containers without restricted access and with restricted access on public roadways.
If in the first case, people are forced to sort garbage, in the second from the motivation only internal impulse, so ecologists consider this method less effective.
As part of the biological waste collection program, this method involves an additional container on the street and separate collection vehicles.
- A system of separating garbage into individual bags, but placing it in bins with unsorted garbage.
This system is used, for example, in the municipality of Cascais, Oeiras, Sintra and others. In Sintra, by the way, for participation in the program you can get a discount of 1 euro to the monthly water bill.
Residents collect biological waste in separate green bags. When the bag is two-thirds full, it is tied with a strong double knot and dumped into the unsorted garbage bins. Once the garbage reaches the sorting line, the robot identifies the green bags and sends them to another stage.
More often than not, the methods are combined.
So far, you and I have learned about collection systems that involve voluntary participation of residents in programs. There are plans to introduce a PAYT system by 2030. It will impose an additional financial burden on residents who do not want to sort garbage.
Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) system
Literally, it's a "pay for what you throw away" system. And here we move smoothly to external incentives. The Union's and the country's leadership understand that there are not many enthusiasts who are ready to join eco-programs themselves.
The PAYT system operates in different forms throughout the EU. In Portugal, the system is already in place in the municipalities of Guimarães, Maia and 5 other municipalities in the country.
The essence of PAYT is that each resident pays for the amount of garbage they throw away. The system may contain a SAYR (Save As You Recycle) tariff. That is, residents may end up paying only for garbage that is not recycled in principle or not sorted by the consumers themselves. PAYT has proven effective in the EU in incentivizing residents to sort their garbage. It is also showing its effectiveness in the municipality of Guimarães, where the percentage of recyclables collected has increased significantly from 13% in 2015 to 50% in 2022.
Residents must purchase bags for garbage that is not recyclable. Bags for paper, plastic, glass and food waste are provided free of charge. The question that may immediately arise is whether you can just put everything in recycling bags indiscriminately to avoid paying. No, you can't, for several reasons. First, there is a control system. Secondly, the bag fee is not that high. For example, in the same Guimarães, the 2023 tariffs have values of 0.12 euros per day + 0.013 euros per liter of non-recyclable garbage + 0.005 euros per liter of organic garbage. If you do not separate your garbage, the amount of €0.0583 per day is still added to this amount. You can find out how the system works in Guimarães here.
PAYT integration will be gradually introduced throughout the country, although the deadline has been postponed from 2026 to 2030. On this DecoProTeste page, you can select your municipality and find out if the system has already been implemented and if there is a biowaste collection in principle. The map is still being updated, as more than half of the 308 municipalities have not yet responded to the resource's inquiry about the status of the work.
How to participate in the biowaste collecting program
- Find out if your town has such a system: google it (a query like "recolha de biorresíduos Cascais") or write to the executive of your municipality (Câmara municipal) or parish council (Junta).
- Depending on the method in your city, or even on your street, get green bags, a container key, or other instructions.
We have already linked to the program pages of some municipalities: Cascais, Oeiras, Sintra, Almada . Here you can leave requests for buckets, green bags and initial consultation (many staff members speak English).
What can be disposed of in biowaste
- Raw and cooked food residues (including shells, fish bones, fish, meat);
- Tea bags and coffee grounds (not capsules!);
- Paper tissues that can tear (not wet wipes or toilet paper);
- Dry leaves, branches and other plant waste (if the volume is large, a garden waste removal request should be made).
- Toothpicks, bamboo sticks or bamboo toothbrushes (if the bristles are not plastic)
Anything that is not on this list cannot be thrown in there, even if it seems like it can. In the future, companies are planning to use biodegradable bags, which can be separated from biological waste.
We hope that the material was useful to you. We encourage you to participate in such programs in your city!
We would appreciate it if you would write in the comments about your experience with biowaste collecting or what other topics you would like to see on our portal.
