The Portuguese Environmental Agency (APA) is marking the start of summer with a communication, awareness-raising, and information campaign highlighting the urgent need for proper urban waste separation in Portugal; the initiative will travel across six districts of the country, from Braga to Portimão.

The next stop for APA’s summer awareness campaign is the city of Évora, at Rossio de São Brás, running from Friday (9:00 AM – 6:00 PM) and Saturday (9:00 AM – 8:00 PM) through Sunday (11:00 AM – 6:00 PM).

In the coming days, a traveling truck—or “Roadshow”—will invite the communities of Coimbra to reflect on the importance of sorting the waste generated in their homes. The Roadshow’s sustainable trailer features a quiz testing the public’s knowledge of proper waste separation, a sustainable consumption simulator that identifies consumer profiles, workshops for creating art from recycled materials, and various games for the whole family, among other activities.

The Roadshow also features a mural that collects the excuses people give for not sorting their waste correctly at each stop—the “mural of excuses.” This thought-provoking mural aims to challenge the public to make fewer excuses and recycle more. This new phase of APA’s “Let’s separate the waste” campaign draws attention to the time of year when urban waste generation spikes.

Between June and September 2025, over 1.8 million tons of urban waste were produced, with Portugal generating more than 480,000 tons in August alone. The summer campaign aims to highlight the period of peak waste generation, as July and August are the most critical months in Portugal, with August seeing the highest volume of waste produced. In this context, the APA highlights the urgent need for proper waste separation during the summer holiday period, promoting responsible behaviors that ensure waste is correctly routed for recycling.

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