Baião City Council publicly presented, on October 27th, the Biowaste Management project under the motto “The Rest in the Right Place”. A campaign for the selective collection of bio-waste, with an incentive to maximize and value the resource in the production of biogas and organic compost for soil fertilization, focusing on reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill.
The councilor responsible for the Environment, Henrique Ribeiro, at the opening of the session, highlighted the advantages of the campaign “aligned with the municipality’s environmental and sustainability policies” and classified as a “Sustainable Tourist Destination”. The mayor highlighted the combination of factors, “all of them positive”, the “environmental, the economic, and the contribution to an increasingly greener and healthier future for the planet, and should, also for this reason, out of respect for future generations, deserve the our best attention and commitment.”
In the presentation of the project that resulted from the approval of the Municipality’s application to the Environmental Fund, within the scope of the RecolhaBio Program – Support for the Implementation of Selective Biowaste Collection Projects, worth 134,500 euros, obtaining financing of 100 thousand euros, the equipment to be made available to the people of Bahia and to be installed on the ground, as well as a set of awareness-raising actions to be carried out among the population and a promotional video.
Committed to the success of this campaign, the municipality will distribute equipment to facilitate separation, publicizing the correct way to contribute, separating food left on the plate, food that has expired, leftovers from cooking meals (egg shells, vegetables, fruit , tea bags, coffee grounds…). To this end, in specific parts of the municipality, close to population clusters, new containers will be installed where bio-waste must be deposited, with digital access only through a card provided by the municipality. In locations where housing is more dispersed, composting will be promoted and composters will be distributed.
Therefore, the biowaste management project will comprise two aspects:
1. Treatment at source (TO) – domestic and/or community composting – recycling of organic matter, carried out through microorganisms that transform biodegradable waste into a fertilizer rich in nutrients, called compost. In this case, access conditions imply the existence of permanent housing; commitment to use the composter; and agree to receive technical visits.
2. Selective collection – separation of waste resulting from meal preparation and leftover dishes. In this case, the bio-waste is placed in a bucket and then deposited in the new brown container.
In this first phase, following the directives of the Support Program for the Preparation of Municipal Studies for the Development of Bio-waste Collection Systems, the project will be implemented in six parishes, those with the highest population density (Gestaçô; Gôve; União de Freguesias de Ancede and Ribadouro; Union of Parishes of Campelo and Ovil; Santa Marinha do Zêzere and Union of Parishes of Santa Cruz do Douro and S. Tomé de Covelas), with the intention, in a next phase, to extend it to all parishes in the municipality.
At the end of the session, the Mayor, Paulo Pereira, reinforced the purpose of the project “which is very important for us, because it fits into the strategy we have been implementing, based on 4 fundamental pillars – Environmental, Cultural, Social, and Economic”.
Recognizing that Baião, in the scope of sustainability, being in the forefront in many areas, “with regard to recycling has a long way to go, since the amount of waste sent for recycling is below what is desired”, he called for the best collaboration in the sense that “this campaign becomes a success, which will be very important for everyone”.
This campaign will be on the ground next week, with the distribution of equipment and the scheduling of information and awareness campaigns.
Access all the information at www.cm-baiao.pt
