The measure to stop using herbicides on pavements and in public spaces will be in place for at least three years.

The municipality of Lagoa has started a three-year trial period, during which no herbicide will be applied to control weeds on the town’s pavements and in its public spaces.

The action began on the first day of November when the new contract for the municipality’s Urban Cleaning Services started. With this objective in mind, the service specifications required that weed control be carried out without herbicide application. It also includes the significant reinforcement of the teams responsible for mechanical and manual maintenance throughout the county and the frequencies of the service in urban areas.

However, the municipality warns that manual methods are “more demanding, time-consuming, expensive and short-term”. In this sense, “if no chemicals are applied, weeds will grow again a few days after cutting, so they will hardly be completely eliminated”.

The municipality, therefore, calls on all citizens “to be more understanding when they observe weeds on the roadside and pavements, because they will be cut frequently and the maintenance teams will pass through each location regularly”, he assures.

After the three-year trial period, if the project succeeds, “the ultimate goal will be to continue to perform weed control without applying herbicides, for a more sustainable and greener municipality”.