EGF annually promotes five environmental campaigns that focus on diversifying environmental education and communication among various audiences.
The campaigns -Ecovalor, Toneladas de Ajuda, EcoEventos, EcoPraias e Mercado a Reciclar - allow us to reach various audiences and challenge citizens to recycle everything, always and everywhere. In all of them, it is possible to quantify the packages recycled and measure results, and in the case of the Tons of Help and Ecovalor campaigns there is also a very significant social support component.
In the total of the five campaigns, which covered the whole of mainland Portugal, 9,200 tonnes of packaging were collected in 2022. 2,484 tonnes of plastic and metal, equivalent to 50 Airbus 320 aeroplanes; 1,272 tonnes of glass, enough to manufacture 334,737 new 0.75l bottles; 5,465 tonnes of paper and cardboard, equivalent to 81,975 trees.
PROGRAMA ECOVALOR 2021/2022
The Ecovalor Programme was designed with the school community in mind. It develops awareness-raising actions, study visits to EGF concessionaires and promotes the contest "Separa e Ganha", which mobilises school communities to separate packaging.
Each participating school receives a monetary prize according to its good performance in packaging collection. EGF, through its eleven concessionaires, awarded a global value of 178,131 euros in prizes in 2022. Each prize was used according to the needs of each school unit - acquisition of equipment for the Physical Education class, interactive whiteboards, teaching materials, small works, for example.
In the "Separate and Win" competition, 1,029 schools from Kindergarten to Secondary School participated last school year. Together, they managed to collect 3,520 tonnes of materials for recycling: 1,876 of cardboard and paper, 526 of glass and 1,118 of plastic and metal.
TONELADAS DE AJUDA 2022
The campaign Tons of Help allies the environmental and social causes and is aimed at Private Institutions of Social Solidarity (IPSS). The recyclable material delivered by each institution is equivalent to a monetary amount that is later reverted to social aid. The campaign also establishes a partnership with some Food Banks.
In 2022, 267 IPSS participated in the initiative and managed to collect for recycling 4,279 tons of materials: 3,172 tons of paper and cardboard, 103 of glass and 1,004 tons of plastic and metal that were converted into 516,387€ donated by EGF concessionaires for social aid.
ECOEVENTOS 2022
The Ecoeventos campaign is aimed at entities that organise cultural, sporting or recreational events and make a commitment to properly manage waste during them. The commitment to good environmental practices, linked to the reduction and reuse of waste, is also a feature of Ecoeventos.
Each concessionaire helps, locally, the registered event with the logistics of material collection, selective collection, seeks to raise awareness among the organisers, provides informative material and signage for waste disposal as well as ensuring its communication to the event public.
In 2022, 248 events participated and 646 tonnes of waste were collected for recycling.
ECOPRAIAS 2022
Ecopraias is the campaign that aims to raise awareness among beachgoers of the need to use the ecopoints scattered along the beaches, avoiding the dumping of rubbish on the coast and sea pollution. Teams of monitors walk along the beaches and provide beachgoers with bags to separate rubbish on the beach.
In 2022, 46 beaches from 10 municipalities participated and, in total, 463 tonnes of material for recycling were deposited in the recycling bins, corresponding to 158 tonnes of paper and cardboard, 244 tonnes of glass, 61 tonnes of plastic and metal. The collection of this packaging took place during the whole bathing season 2022.
MERCADO A RECICLAR 2022
Targeted at Fairs and Markets, the Mercado a Reciclar campaign seeks to raise public awareness of the importance of correct disposal in places where large quantities of recyclable waste are usually produced. The creation of conditions for the correct disposal of waste involves the provision of ecobags, bags and awareness-raising actions among traders. Actions in markets and fairs are carried out in conjunction with the Municipalities or Parish Councils.
In 2022, 25 markets were covered and 145 tonnes of material for recycling were collected.
About EGF:
EGF is a European reference company in the environmental sector and leader in waste treatment and recovery in Portugal. Integrated in the MOTA-ENGIL/URBASER Group, it is responsible for ensuring the treatment and recovery of waste, in the most environmentally correct and economically sustainable way, contributing to the improvement of the quality of life and of the environment.
Waste treatment and recovery systems are managed by 11 concessionary companies (Algar, Amarsul, Ersuc, Resiestrela, Resinorte, Resulima, Suldouro, Valorlis, Valorminho, Valnor, Valorsul), set up in partnership with the municipalities served, which process around 3.3 million tons of municipal waste (RU) annually, serving a population of 6.3 million people spread over 174 municipalities, in an area equivalent to 60% of Portugal.
More information at https://www.egf.pt/en/
Information: Ana Loureiro |Mobile: 968601711 | E-mail: ana.loureiro@egf.pt
The Board of Directors, in which national members are represented by Ana Loureiro, on behalf of APESB and with EGF's support, met in Portugal this week and discussed the future of the association and its participation in upcoming global events. ISWA is the voice of the waste and resource management sector in the various strategic discussion forums worldwide, regarding climate change, sustainability or resource management on the planet.
The first day was reserved for a meeting with ERSAR, an initiative that was also attended by elements of APESB. This meeting was an opportunity to share technical knowledge, to discuss innovative and sustainable solutions in urban waste management, with the aim of understanding what the role and strategy of regulation can be to enhance greater efficiency of the managing entities.
Also this week, EGF received a delegation from ISWA's Working Group on Communication, who were in Portugal with the aim of studying and debating the most recent trends in waste management.
Between 22 and 23 May, this working group had the opportunity to meet and make thematic visits. They visited two Valorsul facilities: the Energy Recovery Plant and the Sorting Centre, in Lumiar. They passed by the place where the World Youth Day 2023 will take place, where the entire space is being reconverted for this purpose with strict sustainability criteria; and they got to know the Environmental Education Centre of Loures City Hall, located in the Urban Park of Santa Iria de Azóia, a former landfill and the first one in the country. The visit to the Recycling Line, a service provided by the EGF Group, allowed them to get to know this innovative project of a free, national public service.
To mark Recycling Day, which falls today, and to contribute to greater environmental awareness among the population, EGF is presenting Virtual Visits to its different municipal waste treatment and recovery units, available online on the website of EGF and its 11 concessionaires.
With the aim of alerting citizens to their role as resource managers, the Virtual Visits to EGF's units are intended to share experience in the different processes, highlighting the waste treatment process, from the moment the waste is collected to its transformation.
Throughout the Virtual Tours it is possible to learn about the entire waste treatment and recovery process, from collection from the street or door-to-door recycling points, to its treatment in the different units and, subsequently, its sorting, recycling and transformation into new products, promoting the circular economy.
Available with voiceovers in Portuguese and English, the Virtual Tours show many areas of the facilities filmed in 360º and allow you to travel through five different waste treatment plants, namely: sorting centres, organic valorisation and mechanical and biological treatment plants, Valorsul energy valorisation plant and landfills.
With this initiative, EGF reinforces its environmental education mission, shows what happens to Portuguese people's waste and promotes the adoption of appropriate environmental behaviours of prevention, reuse and recycling.
The Virtual Tours are available on the EGF and eleven concessionaires' websites, through the link.
About EGF
EGF is a European company of reference in the environmental sector and a leader in the treatment and recovery of waste in Portugal. It is part of the MOTA-ENGIL/URBASER Group and is responsible for ensuring the treatment and recovery of waste in the most environmentally correct and economically sustainable manner, contributing to the improvement of the quality of life and of the environment.
Waste treatment and recovery systems are managed by 11 concessionary companies (Algar, Amarsul, Ersuc, Resiestrela, Resinorte, Resulima, Suldouro, Valorlis, Valorminho, Valnor, Valorsul), set up in partnership with the municipalities served, which process around 3.3 million tons of municipal waste (RU) annually, serving a population of 6.2 million people spread over 174 municipalities, in an area equivalent to 60% of Portugal.
More information at https://www.egf.pt/
Information: Ana Loureiro |Mobile: 968601711 | E-mail: ana.loureiro@egf.pt
