Municipality of Lisbon with new used appliances reward service
This is a new free recycling service provided by the Lisbon City Council, already active in 13 parishes. Between July and November, 20 tonnes of large household appliances were collected, six of which were collected in the last month alone, in a total of 252 collections.
Ajuda, Alcântara, Alvalade, Areeiro, Arroios, Avenidas Novas, Beato, Belém, Campolide, Marvila, Olivais, Parque das Nações and Santo António are the parishes that cover this new reverse logistics service and circular economy. A similar service already existed, but now there is a reception directly at the person’s home, “whether it’s in the kitchen or garage”, the note goes on.
The starting point of this project was a pilot project between Lisbon City Hall and Electrão, which started with just three parishes, and then expanded to ten more, between September and December, “to cover new areas of the municipality, given the high adhesion that it is registering”, said the municipality.
The team needed to identify the movement of the equipment between the house, storage room or garage, to the transport vehicle, and its subsequent recycling.
Pedro Nazareth, general director of Electrão, explains that “this can only be done if there is large electrical equipment to obtain, but we always confirm that the citizen has other disused equipment, such as small appliances, lamps or batteries to obtain, from in order to take advantage of synergies. We are also showing equipment that is still working to deliver to institutions promoting reuse and linking it to a social cause”.
This service aims to ensure that the collected equipment – some of which contain hazardous materials – is sent for recycling in licensed units.
The Lisbon City Council also points out that between 2018 and 2020 the amount of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment sent to their final destination increased, from 245.74 tons to 438.09, and that only in the first half of this year they have already been collected 194.65 tons.