The new phase of the Portuguese Environmental Agency’s campaign calls for waste separation and recycling, highlighting that more than 50% of the waste produced in Portugal still ends up in landfills.

“Let’s separate the waste” marks the starting point of the new phase of the Portuguese Environmental Agency (APA)’s campaign, which raises the alarm about a problem of monumental proportions: around three million tonnes of waste are deposited in landfills every year, accounting for more than half of all waste produced in Portugal.

Under the tagline “Let’s separate the waste before our future is wasted.”, the multimedia campaign is present on television, radio, billboards and digital platforms, with the aim of raising awareness among the Portuguese public about the urgent need to change behaviour and step up proper separation of household waste.

In the television campaign, a tour guide visits some of Lisbon’s most iconic monuments, including the Palácio Nacional da Ajuda and the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos, culminating in an unexpected “monument”: three million tonnes of municipal waste, symbolising the amount of rubbish that ends up in Portuguese landfills every year.

The image is intended to highlight the impact of inadequate waste separation on the exhaustion of national landfill capacity. In a press release, the APA emphasises that the solution is within everyone’s reach and involves the correct separation of glass, plastic and metal packaging, paper and cardboard, and bio-waste, allowing it to be sent for recycling and recovery. Currently, more than half of the waste produced in Portugal still goes to landfill — a situation the agency is determined to reverse.

During the sales season, the campaign also gains a physical presence through activations at the Colombo Shopping Centre in Lisbon and at NorteShopping in Matosinhos. These initiatives aim to educate the public about what bio-waste is — food scraps and garden green waste — and reinforce the importance of recycling for a more sustainable future.

The APA stands feature an information space dedicated to bio-waste, a children’s area with educational games, and a recycling quiz zone. The activations take place at the Colombo Shopping Centre from 13 to 18 January and at NorteShopping from 27 January to 1 February.

The “Let’s separate the waste” campaign runs until the end of 2026.

Source