WASTE MANAGEMENT – Resources and Recycling

Waste in PORTUGAL

The amount of waste that we have in our houses have been increasing. In 2016 was
produced like 4,89 million tons of trash, while in 2017 this number increased to 5,07
million tons. Thinking that a very small country is producing this amount of trash is
frightful. Just to give an idea, these values correspond to the weight of 125 Cristo-Rei
statues.

These means that in a year, each one of us is producing 486kg and per day we are
generating 1,33kg of waste. It’s for this reasons that is so important to consume in a
conscient way to reach the targets stablished to 2020, we should reduce
approximately one fifth of the amount of trash that we have produced in only 3 years
(2018,2019,2020), which not happened.

The total production of municipal waste in Portugal was, in 2020, approximately 5,01
million tones (+0,1% compared to 2019) which corresponds to an annual capitation of
512 kg/(inhab.year), this means that a daily municipal waste production of 1,40 kg per
inhabitant. Analyzing this, we can say that these values correspond the stabilization in
municipal waste production compared to 2019 reversing the growth trend seen since
2014.

This result may be related to

the pandemic situation that
began in March 2020,
associated with lower
consumption by Portuguese
families, due to the imposition
of a lockdown.

Figure 1 - Production of municipal waste in mainland Portugal, total and per capita

Waste can be distinguished as to its origin, what means that we can have urban,
hospital and industrial waste.

The urban waste is the most common waste that we have and it’s the waste from
houses as well as any other waste that, for its nature or composition, is like this type of
waste.

Also, we can have hospital waste that is the waste resultant from medical activities
developed in health care units, in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and
investigation activities, related to human beings or animals, in pharmacies, in medico-
legal activities, teaching and any others that involve invasive procedures, such as
acupuncture, piercings and tattoos.

Pedro Diogo Figueira

 WASTE MANAGEMENT – Resources and Recycling
Finally, we have industrial waste that is generated in industrial production processes,
as well as the result of the production activities and distribution of electricity, gas, and
water.

When we talk about industrial waste, we can describe the main industrial sector
responsible for the biggest amount of waste generation which is the Textile Sector. In
recent decades, world clothing production has expanded in such a way it is currently
known as “fast fashion”.

Among the various consequences of this movement of acceleration and globalization

of textile production are the environmental problems caused by the amount of
clothing that ends up in the trash after ceasing to be useful. There is a part that is
placed in containers for reuse, but there is a large amount of this waste going to
undifferentiated containers, whose sole destination is landfill and incineration.

In Portugal, about 200,000 tons of textile waste are thrown into waste per year.

According to data from APA – Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente, in 2017 about

200,756 tons of textile waste were collected in municipal waste containers, which
represents about 4% of the total waste produced in Portugal (near 4.75 million).

According to Greenpeace "each person buys, on average, 60% more of the pieces than
they bought in the year 2000 and only keeps them half the time". This behavior,
increasingly integrated into our society, has serious consequences for the sustainability
of our planet.

Currently the textile industry is already considered one of the most polluting in the
world, right after the oil industry.

One of the biggest problems in the textile sector concerns the raw materials used.
"Most of the clothing is synthetic and comes from oil.

There’s still lots of things that we can improve, not only individually but also as a
society. Not everything depends on our changes, but they are the ones that allow us to
progress step by step in the change that we want to see in the world. The trash that
we make in our houses and the waste we have daily, are the proof that the way we are
living is affecting the whole planet, not only in environmental level, but also on social
and economic levels.

Bibliography:
http://www.smartwasteportugal.com/pt/
https://mindthetrash.pt/para-onde-vai-o-nosso-lixo/
https://www.residuosdonordeste.pt/residuosETiposDeResiduos

Pedro Diogo Figueira

 WASTE MANAGEMENT – Resources and Recycling
https://rea.apambiente.pt/content/produção-e-gestão-de-res%C3%ADduos-urbanos?
language=pt-pt
https://noctula.pt/residuos-texteis-em-portugal-cerca-de-200-mil-toneladas-por-ano-
vai-para-o-lixo/

Pedro Diogo Figueira