LIPOR celebrates Recycling!

LIPOR and its Municipalities are a reference in the Prevention, Recycling and Recovery of Waste, currently having Waste Recovery and Treatment Plants, Supporting Platforms and other Equipment that are proof that it can manage and operate a Waste Management System with high performance at the level of the best in Europe and the world.

Today, Recycling Day, we celebrate the efforts of LIPOR and its Associated Municipalities, which in 2024 completed an investment cycle of 14,660,000 euros in four new waste treatment units that aim to maximize the amount of waste to be recovered by recycling, thus constituting a relevant contribution to meeting the Recycling targets defined in PERSU.

These new infrastructures have been supported by investment in the best technologies, in Research and Innovation processes and complemented with a communication, awareness and environmental education strategy.

This unit presents an investment of around 1.7 million euros, allowing to increase the processing capacity and also ensuring an increase in efficiency, the degree of purity of the materials and greater flexibility through the possibility of classifying other types of waste.

Innovation was considered, with the inclusion of technology that allows, in real time, monitoring of the entire production process.

This Sorting line presents an investment of around 9 million euros.

The unit allows for greater packaging processing capacity, thus ensuring greater efficiency, an increase in the purity of materials, more reliability and availability of the installation as well as greater operational flexibility and, consequently, an increase in recycling rates.

The new Unit presents unique characteristics in terms of digitalization and innovation, with the inclusion of tools for obtaining mass balance in real time, the possibility of remotely controlling the installation, a 100% automatic baling system and dedicated optical systems for quality control with the ability to recognize packaging through artificial intelligence.

The Automatic Packaging Sorting Line has a minimum nominal capacity of 8 tons/hour, corresponding to an annual treatment capacity of more than 30,000 tons of packaging, thus responding to the challenges that the National Waste Management Plan, PERSU 2030, defines for LIPOR.

This Park presents an investment of around 3.2 million euros.

The new Park has an area of 13,400 m2 and aims to locally treat green waste selectively collected in the municipalities of Póvoa de Varzim and Vila do Conde, following the integrated and circular approach to bio-waste.

The Composting Park has a green waste reception capacity of 8,000 tons/year, corresponding to an annual compost production capacity of over 2,000 tons/year.

The Micro-digestion Unit had an investment of €760,000.00.

Located at the Póvoa de Varzim Transfer Station, this unit aims to locally treat and recover food waste from selective collection in the municipality, in the residential and non-residential sectors (HORECA establishments), serving around 18,000 inhabitants. This facility has a nominal capacity of 2, 5 tons/day of food waste, equivalent to around 900 tons/year.

All Units were financed by POSEUR - Sustainability and Efficiency in the Use of Resources Operational Program.

According to José Manuel Ribeiro, President of the Board of Directors of LIPOR, "I recall that the demanding GOALS and OBJECTIVES of the European Union that were defined to PORTUGAL, require a joined effort from LIPOR and the Municipalities, so that we can grow in quantity and quality of materials with potential to be recycled, transformed and valued."