APA brings recycling campaign to Portimão Marina – Portugal Resident

The Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) is bringing its nationwide Vamos Lixar o Lixo (Let’s Sort Out Rubbish) campaign to Portimão Marina this weekend, encouraging residents and holidaymakers to recycle more as Portugal enters its busiest period for waste production.

The Algarve is the final stop on the campaign’s summer roadshow, which has travelled through six districts to raise awareness of the importance of correctly separating household waste.

Running from Friday to Sunday (July 24-26), the event features an interactive trailer with quizzes on recycling, a sustainable consumption simulator, family games and workshops where participants can create artwork from recycled materials.

Visitors will also be invited to contribute to a “wall of excuses”, highlighting the common reasons people give for not separating their waste, in a bid to challenge habits and encourage recycling.

Summer brings surge in waste

According to APA, the summer months see the highest levels of urban waste production in Portugal, with July and August consistently the busiest period of the year.

Last summer, more than 1.8 million tonnes of urban waste were produced between June and September, including over 480,000 tonnes in August alone, making it the country’s biggest waste-producing month.

The agency says the increase is driven by holidays, tourism and more time spent outdoors, making it particularly important that residents and visitors continue separating recyclable materials instead of sending them to landfill.

“Contrary to what many may think, summer is regularly the period with the highest waste production in Portugal,” said APA president José Pimenta Machado.

“This year, we expect that trend to continue. Rubbish doesn’t take a holiday during the summer, and with this campaign we hope to involve communities across the country in an issue that concerns us all, from the Algarve to Minho,” he added.

Although the roadshow ends in Portimão, the APA said its campaign will continue until the end of 2026, promoting responsible waste separation and recycling throughout the country.

The interactive exhibition will be open from 9am to 6pm on Friday, 9am to 8pm on Saturday, and 11am to 6pm on Sunday.