Blanky
Blanky is a fast-growing Portuguese sustainable home textiles brand, best known as the first weighted blanket company in Iberia, offering ba…
Plastic-Free Alternatives
Everyday life without the throwaway: bulk grocers like Bialógica in São Brás de Alportel, cork goods from Corkor, and natural soaps from Hippocampus. Small swaps that add up.
Projects in this focus
Mind the Trash
Mind the Trash is Portugal's first zero-waste online store, founded in 2017 in Lisbon, offering sustainable, organic, and plastic-free produ…
Maria Granel
Maria Granel is Portugal's first bulk organic grocery store, founded in 2015 in Lisbon, pioneering zero-waste shopping with plastic-free pac…
Corkor
Corkor is a Portuguese brand based in Barreiro that handcrafts vegan accessories from genuine cork, offering a sustainable and cruelty-free …
Zero Waste Lab
Zero Waste Lab is a Lisbon-based independent hub and NGO piloting collaborative solutions towards zero waste and circular economy practices …
Plastic-free alternatives in Portugal
Portugal has a long coastline and a large fishing and tourism industry, so the plastic problem arrives back on the beach in a very visible form. The alternatives listed here are mostly ordinary objects made from something else: cork, wood, glass, soap, cloth.
Corkor makes cork accessories in Barreiro and Hippocampus makes soap bars in Tavira. Maria Granel, Bialógica and Green2You sell food and household goods loose in Lisbon, São Brás de Alportel and Coimbra. Zero Waste Lab works on the systems behind it, and Hoooked and Blanky make textiles that avoid the synthetic route.
The refill shop is usually the easiest first step, because it removes packaging from things you buy anyway. See also zero waste living, natural personal care and recycling systems. Dated activities from these projects are listed in our events calendar.