Load of Old Rubbish

Most people who care about our environment will try to do their bit to recycle – even while ignoring the sceptical voices they hear telling them there’s no point:  It will probably all end up in landfill anyway! But how true is this and what can we do about it?

We sent Sophie Sadler to find out.  

I visit Algar – the company responsible for rubbish collection throughout the Algarve – at their main depot in Loulé,  which handles rubbish from the Sotavento region.

Arriving at Algar I’m pleasantly surprised at the air of organisation and space.  Neatly manicured lawns surround impressively contemporary offices with a huge pile of tyres reminding me more of a modern art installation than rubbish.  In the distance, a lorry off-loads old mattresses, but surprisingly there’s no bad smell!

As we’re met on the steps with press officer Maria João and mechanical engineer, Carlos Jucal to explain how it all works, a group of suited VIPs file past.  We’re told these are the heads of the six Algarve Câmaras (which still have a 49% stake after the state-owned company went public in 2015).

Recently Algar invested €1.2 million to acquire seven new vehicles, through the Cohesion Fund, co-financed by the Operational Program for Sustainability and Efficiency in the Use of Resources (POSEUR), Portugal 2020 and the European Union.

Maria tells me; “This acquisition enabled the company to increase the capacity of the vehicle fleet by 32% to 29 vehicles. The seven new vehicles are equipped with the latest motorization technology in compliance with the EURO VI (gas emission) standard.”

Furthermore in 2018 Algar installed 750 new eco-points, for rubbish collection “The company pursues its strategy due to the increase in recyclable packaging waste deposited in eco-points, which in January and February of this year show a 22% increase when compared to the same period last year.”

This investment will continue in 2019 with the installation of approximately 350 new eco-points, increasing the number to 3900 eco-points throughout the Algarve (12,800 containers). Their objective is to guarantee the ratio of one eco-point per 126 inhabitants.

The rubbish that is collected in these Eco-points then goes to the main plants via transfer stations in Lagos, Albufeira, Aljezur, Vila do Bispo and Portimão.  Working alongside are eco-centres where individuals can take larger plastic items that don’t fit in the bins.

Glass goes to two sorting stations located in Chão Frio, Porto de Lagos and Barros, S. João da Venda in Almancil before being recycled into new products by private companies.

Garden waste is manually sorted into piles, shredded and sent on to another plant in São Brás de Alportel where it’s made into Nutriverde, certified organic compost used in biological agriculture and only available from Algar plants.

Moving on to plastics. In a large warehouse, stacked to the roof are clean, bales of different materials, sorted for recycling; each comprising a different type of plastic: Crushed water bottles in one, milk cartons in another, crisp packets and margarine lids in yet another. Plastic bags tethered by binding strips. It’s both a revelation and incredibly motivating to see our everyday rubbish sorted into something so palatable and I vow never to put anything recyclable into a black bin bag again.

I ask Carlos if it’s necessary to wash the packaging thoroughly, often a requirement in the UK?  Carlos tells me it doesn’t have to be spotless but contamination of the recycled material from food waste is one of their biggest problems, so there should be no food left inside.   

Algar sells the bales on to integrated packaging management companies, the government sets the price and they’re subsidised by companies selling packaged products to consumers. And the real benefit?  Last year 1,295 tonnes of clear plastic bottles (PET) went into producing over 1.5 million fleece sweaters, 15,039 tonnes of glass contributed to over 37 million new glass bottles and 12,501 tonnes of paper/carton meant that nearly 200,000 trees were not felled.  

But we’re not done yet. The largest building,  the plastics-sorting “factory” houses ceiling-high piles of plastic containers of all kinds, shovelled first by dumper trucks, chugging up conveyor belts to the epicentre of the activity before being identified by laser and blown into containers dependent on their type, shape or weight. Cans and metals are extracted by a magnet and the plastics divided into the different types.

Finally, it’s to the hand-sorting cabin where two cheerful ladies sort a conveyor belt of different plastics, weeding out incorrect items like paper which can contaminate the recycling process. Once again, this highlights the necessity for everyone to put the right waste in the right bin.  

I now must mention the “F-word” of rubbish collection; “Landfill.”  We didn’t actually see the Algar landfill deposition cells (consisting of around 4 hectares each) but they ’re probably less exciting and rather more depressing.

The Câmara pays a gate fee to Algar for each tonne of waste delivered for treatment plus a landfill tax of €8,8 per tonne. Maria tells me she hates the sound of breaking glass echoing around the plant when the trucks unload unseparated waste from the lixo bins into the hoppers; reminding her just how often people still mix recyclable materials with general waste.

And what of the Tyre Mountain and the stack of mattresses we saw being unloaded at the start – what will happen to them?   While the textiles end up in landfill, the metal springs are recycled; as are the tyres, processed in northern Portugal under international guidelines.

Our tour of Algar over, I am overwhelmed at the time and patience of Carlos and Maria, but this reflects the ethos of the company and Maria works a lot with schools and a large emphasis is given to educating the public and especially children.

A sure sign that the message is getting across is their latest stats which show, in the period from 2009 to 2019, the amount of glass collected in the green container, grew by 25,42% , the amount of paper/cardboard packaging collected in the blue container, grew by 10,95% and the amount of plastic/ metal/ packaging collected in the yellow container, grew by 61,47%. Incidentally, the Algarve recycles more packaging per capita than anywhere else in Continental Portugal.  

Remember though that the collection and industrial processing in itself produces waste materials and carbon emissions so as well as recycling we should all be thinking about how to reduce the amount of rubbish we produce.

So let this be a call to action. We can all make positive changes.  We can think about what we buy, what we use and how we can re-use packaging. Are we separating waste intelligently, not just at home but when we’re away, at the office, on holiday? Let’s all think again and do the environment a favour!