Algar is celebrating 25 years. A quarter of a century full of positive results that place the Algarve above the national average when it comes to the treatment and recovery of its waste. This success is dude to those who work daily at Algar but it is also of its partners. This joint effort makes the difference, and that is what we celebrate and emphasize on this 25th anniversary.

It is Algar's anniversary, but all the Algarvians are to be congratulated: the families; the municipalities; the commerce and, of course, Algar workers. They are to be congratulated because, together with Algar, they helped to make the Algarve one of the regions with the best results in recycling and waste management.

For this reason, Algar decided to promote an online campaign with the theme "Algar: 25 years transforming the Algarve", with the aim of transmitting the importance of the company's work in transforming the Algarve since 1995 and the importance of the Algarve in that same transformation. Thus, the campaign congratulates:

The Algarvian Families

Thank you for contributing and turning packaging into pride.
Algar celebrates 25 years and 507 million kg of recycled packaging.

The Algarvian Municipalities

Thank you for working with Algar to transform waste into quality of life.
Algar celebrates 25 years and 8.8 billions kg of treated waste.

The Algarvian Commerce

Thank you for collaborating and transforming waste into added value.
Algar celebrates 25 years and 73 million kg of separate packaging for recycling.

Algar's Workers

Thank you for, even in adverse situations, maintaining the responsibility of providing a public service, treating and valuing waste, to transform it into products: MATERIALS FOR RECYCLING, ORGANIC COMPOUND AND ELECTRIC ENERGY.

In these 25 years, the company has taken great responsibility in improving the environmental conditions of the Algarve region in the field of urban waste.

The company closed the 22 existing dumping grounds in the region, started its selective collection, recovery and treatment of urban waste activities, boosted job creation (direct and indirect), boosted the local economy, managed to establish bonds of trust and collaboration with the population and consolidated a new paradigm in the operational management of this activity, with evident benefits for the resident population and for tourism in particular, realizing the great objective based on the improvement of the environmental conditions of the largest national tourist region.

Some production indicators of the last 25 years of activity:

• 8.8 million tons of treated waste;
• 507 thousand tons of recovered packaging waste;
• 140 thousand MWh of Energy Produced (through use of the biogas generated in the two landfills), corresponding to the electricity supply of about 28,000 houses, considering the consumption of an average family of 4 people - 5,000 kwh / year;
• 45 thousand tons of “NUTRIVERDE®” compost from the composting process of green waste resulting from the cutting of trees and the maintenance of golf courses and gardens.

Algar has more than 3,500 ecopoints strategically distributed throughout the Algarve region for the voluntary disposal of urban recyclable waste and, also, a fleet of 64 operational vehicles used for selective collection, waste transfer and other support services the population.

For the development of its activity, Algar currently has 428 employees who ensure the operation of the facilities and the treatment and annual recovery of 400 thousand tons of waste received at its facilities.

Waste management in the Algarve, before ALGAR, until 1995:

• The residues were deposited in an anarchic way in 22 dumping grounds, in open land scattered throughout the region, without any control or protection measures for the Environment;
• Leaching waters, from the decomposition of the waste, flowed freely through the land untreated, contaminating the groundwater, the water wells as well as the agricultural soils. Dumps, as a rule, were always self-combusting, with fumes and toxins emanating, causing serious environmental problems and high risks to public health, causing numerous diseases to the population;
• Methane and hydrogen sulphide gas, resulting from the decomposition of waste, were released into the atmosphere polluting the air, increasing the greenhouse effect and causing bad smells and risks to public health, including serious respiratory diseases;
• Urban waste was neither recycled nor recovered;
• Hazardous waste was deposited in dumping grounds without control.

Waste management in the Algarve, after ALGAR:

• ALGAR, for two years, closed, rehabilitated and environmentally upgraded all 22 open dumps in the region;
• Streamlined and implemented the Multimunicipal System for the Valorization and Treatment of Urban Solid Waste, integrating the entire geographical universe of the 16 Municipalities of the Algarve;
• For the development of its activity, ALGAR defined a Technical and Economic Model for the proper management of urban waste in the Algarve, building the necessary infrastructures for Selective Collection, Sorting recyclable packaging, Multimaterial recovery (eg, electrical and electronic equipment , tires, among others), the transfer infrastructures and environmentally friendly facilities for the Treatment, Energy and Organic Valorisation, Composting of greens and the proper final destination of urban waste, namely:

Support facilities and infrastructures:

• 2 Packaging Waste Sorting Centers;
• 8 Waste Transfer Stations;
• 13 Ecocenters;
• 2 Sanitary Landfills;
• 2 Leaching Water Treatment Plants;
• 3 Electroproducer Centers of Electric Energy;
• 3 Green Composting Units;
• 1 Organic Recovery Center;
• 1 Mechanical Treatment Center,
• 1 Environmental Education Center and Environmental Education Vehicle.

Throughout this quarter of a century, the company has promoted and implemented more environmentally sustainable solutions within the responsibility that it holds in its activity of collection, recovery and treatment of urban waste produced in the Algarve. With regard to waste of a different nature, these are subject to different recovery and treatment, according to their characteristics.

ALGAR will continue to invest in the realization of new solutions that incorporate social and environmental gains, contributing in a sustainable way to the value chain under its responsibility. We will seek to continue to be a socially active company and committed to improving the quality of life of citizens.