According to the Urban Waste 2014 report, published on the Portuguese Environment Agency’s (APA) website, Portugal’s overall performance in terms of recycling was 29 percent, when the target is 50 percent.
The document stated that “while in recent years considerable efforts have been made to modernise equipment to separate rubbish, and in reinforcing selection networks” in Portugal, “the country is still far from reaching its goals for 2020.”
APA experts said: “This is probably one of the greatest challenges of the new Strategic Plan for Urban Waste 2020.”
Portugal’s targets are underpinned by EU directives which set a minimum 50 percent increase in the amount of recyclable waste by 2020, in terms of weight, including paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, metal, wood and biodegradable materials.
However, Portugal’s rate in 2014 peaked at 29 percent, which “falls very short of the target set for 2020”, the APA added, stressing that “the short amount of time left in which to reach the target will demand considerable efforts.”
Growth in recycling should be attained “through a strong investment in selective collection” and a greater efficiency in separating and recovering recyclable materials at Mechanical and Biological Treatment plants (TMBs), the report recommended.
The APA says it recognises that significant efforts have already been made to up the number of selective collection infrastructures, such as eco-points and eco-centres, though these “have not had proportional reflections in terms of quantities achieved.”
One of the most worrying aspects, according to the APA, is that more than half of the 23 Urban Waste Management Systems collect less than ten percent of the rubbish produced.
“Investments made to increase selective disposal has not had the desired effects on the behaviour of the population”, the APA concluded.
Another goal set for Portugal is to reduce the amount of waste produced per capita.
Latest available figures from 2014 show a reversal in behavioural trends in relation to previous years, with the amount of waste produced rising 2.5 percent from 2013 to 2014, to 4.5 million tons.