Municipal solid waste disposal in Portugal

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2006 · Waste Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2006.03.009· OSTI ID:20877583

Magrinho, Alexandre ^[1]; Didelet, Filipe ^[1]; Semiao, Viriato ^[2]

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1. Mechanical Engineering Department, Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Setubal, Campus IPS, Estefanilha, Setubal (Portugal)
2. Mechanical Engineering Department, Instituto Superior Tecnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisbon (Portugal)

In recent years municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal has been one of the most important environmental problems for all of the Portuguese regions. The basic principles of MSW management in Portugal are: (1) prevention or reduction, (2) reuse, (3) recovery (e.g., recycling, incineration with heat recovery), and (4) polluter-pay principle. A brief history of legislative trends in waste management is provided herein as background for current waste management and recycling activities. The paper also presents and discusses the municipal solid waste management in Portugal and is based primarily on a national inquiry carried out in 2003 and directed to the MSW management entities. Additionally, the MSW responsibility and management structure in Portugal is presented, together with the present situation of production, collection, recycling, treatment and elimination of MSW. Results showed that 96% of MSW was collected mixed (4% was separately collected) and that 68% was disposed of in landfill, 21% was incinerated at waste-to-energy plants, 8% was treated at organic waste recovery plants and 3% was delivered to sorting. The average generation rate of MSW was 1.32 kg/capita/day.

• OSTI ID: 20877583
• Journal Information: Waste Management, Vol. 26, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2006.03.009; PII: S0956-053X(06)00086-9; Copyright (c) 2006 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0956-053X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
COMBUSTION
ENVIRONMENT
HEAT RECOVERY
ORGANIC WASTES
PORTUGAL
RECYCLING
SANITARY LANDFILLS
SOLID WASTES