Ourém wastewater plant on the Nabão gets €5.2m upgrade with EU cohesion funds
Tejo Ambiente has secured approval for a €5.2 million overhaul of the Alto Nabão wastewater treatment plant at Formigais, in Ourém. The work will tackle hydraulic overload and fluctuating flows, modernise biological treatment, refurbish existing equipment, strengthen monitoring and automation, and improve sludge handling. It builds on existing infrastructure rather than new construction. The Nabão is classed as a sensitive zone and has suffered pollution episodes over the years, so discharge standards are strict. The Cohesion Fund covers €4.4 million, or 85% of the cost, through the Sustentável 2030 programme. Completion is due by 31 May 2029.
APDA vice-president calls for integrated urban water cycle management ahead of SENAG 2026
The chair of the SENAG 2026 organising committee and APDA vice-president argues that urban water services, built for a different climate and city, now need rethinking as a single cycle. Supply, wastewater, stormwater drainage and urban planning should be managed together, with drainage combining conventional engineering, nature-based solutions and predictive data. Treatment plants could become resource-recovery sites yielding reusable water, energy, biogas and nutrients. Digitalisation and AI only matter if data becomes better decisions. Renewing networks will need sustained investment, while delay carries costs of its own, and tariffs must stay fair. These themes shape the national wastewater seminar, themed "REimagining Urban Water".
New Águas do Algarve board meets department heads to set three-year goals
The newly appointed board of Águas do Algarve, the region's water utility, has held a first meeting with the company's department heads. The board introduced itself and set out its objectives for the coming three-year term. Heads of the various areas, in turn, described their roles, goals and expectations for the company's future. The meeting was meant to strengthen cooperation between teams and the shared commitment to the utility's mission.
Seven Portuguese municipalities fit smart locks to waste containers to stop outside dumping
Seven Portuguese municipalities have installed around 500 smart locks on semi-buried and surface waste containers, serving about 20,000 residents. The aim is to stop "waste tourism", where people from outside the collection area use local containers, eating into capacity and straining municipal services. The locks limit access to authorised users and count how often each container is opened, giving councils data on usage that can inform collection planning. For biowaste, controlled access should also keep out unsuitable materials. Portuguese firm Enermeter and Sensoneo developed the system. There is no evidence yet of a drop in mixed waste, but the data will allow long-term assessment and possible use in pay-as-you-throw schemes.
Braga's waste agency unveils electric trucks and sweeping carts in €1.8m upgrade
Braga's municipal waste and water company, Agere, presented its new street-cleaning equipment at a ceremony in the Praça do Município. The €1.8 million investment covers three electric collection trucks, 86 sweeping carts and 15 leaf blowers, described as kinder to the environment and to the workers who use them. The mayor, João Rodrigues, and the company's board chairman, João Granja, said the equipment will serve the whole municipality. Rodrigues pointed to how far waste collection has come: eight years ago Braga still left rubbish on the street in bags.
Packaging waste collection edges up 1.1% in nine months, short of targets
Separate collection of packaging waste in Portugal rose 1.1% between January and September 2026, reaching 373,182 tonnes, according to Novo Verde, the body that manages the packaging system. Paper and card contributed most by volume, up 4.4%, while glass, about 45% of the total, grew just 0.7%. Plastic, steel and aluminium all fell, by 3.8%, 6% and 4.6% respectively. Novo Verde's director-general, Pedro Simões, says the growth is not enough for the national targets and that every material stream must speed up. The body plans more awareness campaigns, its own collection networks and closer work with municipalities.
Loulé's waste figures raise questions over transparency and bulky-waste collection
Loulé sent 53,470 tonnes of mixed waste for treatment in 2024, about 2.8% less than in 2023, according to ALGAR. Separate collection reached 7,595 tonnes of recyclables and 3,465 tonnes of bio-waste. Regional landfill figures cover the whole Algarve, so municipal-level data is missing. The author found no public, complete collection timetable by locality on official channels and argues that abandoned furniture beside bins cannot be blamed on residents alone. He calls for annual waste reporting, published schedules, simpler bulky-waste requests, a review of collection capacity and door-to-door pilots like LIPOR's.
JCDecaux Portugal cuts operational emissions by almost half since 2019 and launches campaign footprint tool
JCDecaux Portugal reports operational emissions (scopes 1 and 2) of 580.9 tCO2 in 2025, 8.7% lower than a year earlier and 49% below 2019. It credits 100% renewable electricity, LED lighting, digital screens switched off between 1am and 6am and a more efficient fleet, and it funds forest conservation near Covilhã to keep its Carbon Zero status. During Sustainability Week, some 10,000 national poster faces were printed on recycled paper, cutting emissions by about 22%, and the posters then go to artist Vhils. The company has also introduced 360 Footprint, an EY-audited calculator showing each campaign's carbon, water and local-jobs impact.
Environment agency denies any monitoring duty over Ferreira do Alentejo olive-pomace plant
At a parliamentary environment committee hearing, the Portuguese Environment Agency's vice-president said it issues none of the licences held by the olive-pomace plant at Fortes, Ferreira do Alentejo, and referred questions on air quality and environmental impact to the regional authority, CCDR Alentejo. The agency's role is limited to water-resources enforcement. He blamed a February wastewater lagoon overflow on storms, saying the spill did not reach a watercourse and later samples showed no significant pollution. In May, inspectors found a degraded lining on a pomace lagoon, and the company has since repaired it. MPs noted residents' complaints go back over a decade.
