Environment agency appeals for people to recycle over summer months

Portuguese Environment Agency APA has highlighted the urgent need for “proper waste sorting” during the summer holidays – a period when urban waste production peaks at almost two million tonnes.

Marking the start of summer, APA, as part of the “Let’s Sort Our Rubbish” awareness campaign will tour six districts across the country with an information and awareness-raising campaign – highlighting that this is when the most rubbish is produced, with August being the worst month.

Last year, between June and September, more than 1.8 million tonnes of urban waste piled up, with Portugal generating over 480,000 tonnes in August alone, APA explains in a statement released today.

As July and August are the most critical months, this new phase of the campaign that began at the start of the year aims to highlight the need for proper waste separation, “even whilst on holiday”. The aim is to promote responsible behaviour.

“During this seasonal period, when families and friends are gathered together, at home or out and about, proper waste separation must not be neglected, in order to reduce the environmental impact,” APA emphasises.

The new phase of the ‘Let’s Sort Our Rubbish’ campaign features a truck that invites communities to reflect on the importance of waste separation.

“Contrary to what common sense might suggest, summer is usually the period with the highest waste production in Portugal. This year, this trend is expected to continue. However, it is important to emphasise that waste does not take a break or rest during the summer. We hope to engage communities in a problem that affects us all, from the Algarve to the Minho,” said APA President José Pimenta Machado, quoted in the statement.

The ‘roadshow’ includes a quiz on the public’s knowledge of proper waste sorting, a sustainable consumption simulator that identifies consumer profiles, workshops for creating artworks from recycled materials, and games. It also features a “wall of excuses”, listing the excuses often given for not sorting waste correctly.

The “Let’s sort our rubbish” campaign continues until the end of the year.

APA is the body responsible for implementing environmental policies in Portugal, with powers to monitor, plan, evaluate, license, and enforce.

Missing from the ‘stock texts’ on this campaign today is the fact that landfill sites throughout the country are reaching ‘critical points’ where they will soon be ‘full’ and unable to expand…

The issue has been building for years, but it moved up the political agenda in 2025 when the government launched the TERRA waste action plan after warnings that multiple landfill systems could run out of space within a few years.

According to figures presented by the Environment Ministry:

Portugal produces around 5.3 million tonnes of municipal waste annually.

Roughly 59% of municipal waste still ends up in landfill.

The EU target is to reduce landfill disposal to 10% by 2035.

Of Portugal’s 35 landfills, only 13 have more than 20% remaining capacity (with the situation in the Algarve being the most critical).

The European Court of Auditors has also ‘noted’ that Portugal has only about 4.5 years of landfill capacity remaining nationally – prompting the government’s emergency action plan.

Sources: LUSA/ European Court of Auditors