RESIDENTS IN Lisbon are becoming more environmentally conscious when it comes to separating and recycling their rubbish.
Television advertising campaigns, coupled with an increase in paper and bottle bank stations and the so-called ‘eco-islands’ around the city, are paying dividends, according to the latest statistics from Lisbon Câmara’s waste collection department.
In 2006, the Lisbon waste department separated 15.6 per cent or 53 thousand tonnes of rubbish.
Recycling
These encouraging figures represent a 33 per cent increase on 2005 – the year in which 40 thousand tonnes were recycled.
In 2006, the collection, separation and eventual treatment of residual urban solids collected by the câmara set the municipal authority back around 6.5 million euros (the same as in 2005).
Recycling waste may be expensive, but it has its advantages too, since the authority can sell the residuals to recycling companies.
The câmara made 2.5 million euros from selling on recyclable materials in 2005 and 3.2 million euros in 2006 (an increase of 25 per cent).
If the amount of rubbish recycled in 2006, is compared with 2002, then it can be seen that the amount of household waste enjoyed a decrease in real terms by 21 per cent, cutting Lisbon Câmara’s real waste treatment bill down to 6.5 million euros from 7.9 million euros.
Rubbish
Between 2002 and 2006, the amount of rubbish received for recycling tripled in value from 770,000 euros to two million euros.
However, the quantity of solid waste increased in physical terms (excluding the recycling factor) for the first time in 10 years because the population of Lisbon probably has increased in the past decade.
In 1996, Lisbon Câmara’s waste collection department collected 419,000 tonnes, which fell down to 333,000 tonnes in 2005 and rose again to 340,000 tonnes last year.
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