Less than 1% of Porto’s waste ends up in landfills

In that respect, the city is one of Portugal’s leaders and a role model

Porto’s municipal website informed the public this week that the Portuguese city sent only 0.24% of its waste to landfills in 2020, thanks to the organized work and policies carried out by the municipal environmental company Porto Ambiente. The Municipality bases its waste management strategy on a zero-landfill policy, which is in line with European strategic guidelines, making it a leader and an outlier in that respect if we consider all of Portugal.

Its metropolitan region is performing remarkably, too

The numbers recorded by Porto Ambiente have favourably contributed to the results of the inter-municipal waste management company Lipor, which, according to data released by the Portuguese Environment Agency, reached the milestone of 2% of waste deposited in landfills.

Lipor is the Intermunicipal Waste Management Service of Greater Porto - founded in 1982. It manages, recovers, and treats the municipal waste produced in eight municipalities of the Greater Porto Area: Espinho, Gondomar, Maia, Matosinhos, Porto, Póvoa de Varzim, Valongo, and Vila do Conde. At the same time, it also shares good practices with the population, which are supported by awareness campaigns. The company treats half a million tons of municipal waste each year.

The numbers are remarkable because the national target for landfilling is 10%, making Lipor only one of two Portuguese waste management to meet that target and to do it in a consistent manner.

The Municipality of Porto has been achieving all the goals it set for itself and, in 2020, it reached a recycling rate of 37%, surpassing the established objective of 31%. Also, with regard to the production of selective waste, the rate is a bit over 65 kg/inhabitant per year, with the goal being 61 kg/inhabitant per year. That means that the progress is good but there is still some work to be done in the field of waste reduction per capita.