One of the biggest problems that Humanity is facing nowadays is related to production and treatment of waste, namely the non-separation of the recyclable materials and the overproduction of undifferentiated waste.
Guimarães, a city classified by UNESCO as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity and at a time with the main goal to submit as European Green Capital 2020, a set of actions were designed and established.
One of the strongest bets is about changing the garbage collection and treatment system, and a pilot project is being implemented in its classified historical center. It’s called PAYT – Pay as you throw – each citizen only pays what he produces.
The results obtained with this system have been surprising and exceeded the established European targets for 2020. The data point to a significant increase in the collection of recyclable waste, surpassing the European target of 30%. Household waste collection also decreased by 35%.
