Évora, Portugal
Évora is a medium-sized city located in the southern interior of Portugal. With the Historic Centre classified by UNESCO as World Heritage, its development is naturally anchored in heritage, culture, knowledge and sustainability. Within the framework of the Municipality’s environmental policy the transition to circular economy plays an important role, with a focus on the development of several axes of action associated with this strategy. Water management represents a huge challenge for the Municipality, which is why Évora is involved in several projects related to the urban water cycle. It envisages the reduction of losses and the improvement of greater efficiency in both consumption and collection. In this context, the Municipality has been promoting a project for the reuse of rainwater and waste water, as well as the management of natural sources of groundwater, through the project LIFE Água da Prata, already in the implementation phase. Within this framework, also worth highlighting are the measures taken by the Municipality regarding the flow of organic and recyclable waste and the promotion of circularity in urban-rural relations
Greener Évora
In order to reduce the volume of waste and to improve the use of organic waste, the Municipality has launched the project “Évora+verde” (Greener Évora), focusing on the transformation of food waste into organic compost for agricultural purposes. Within the framework of this project, bio-waste is collected from households within the areas with the highest demographic density, and also from those in the non-residential sector that have greater volume of daily production of waste. To this end, a system of selective collection door-to-door for the catering and hotel sectors was installed in the historic centre of Évora. The major canteens located outside the city centre are also included in this system. In addition, pilot projects are being developed in different residential areas of the city to implement a complementary selective collection circuit dedicated to organic waste. At the same time, the European project POCITYF (H2020), in which Évora is a lighthouse city, will bring innovative solutions for the use of waste from different sources, improving efficiency and energy management and contributing to the reduction of waste.
International cooperation
In its circular vision, the Municipality of Évora has taken steps to strengthen the functional relations of complementarity and cooperation between the urban area and the rural environment. One of the aspects that the Municipality of Évora is developing in this area concerns the development and promotion of local production through short supply circuits. Thus municipal basic schools follow a Mediterranean Seasonal Menu and are directly supplied by local agro-ecological producers. Consumption of local fresh products is also encouraged through the existent local market producers. In order to promote economic circulation within the community and to reduce the ecological footprint of food, a certification system has been developed to ensure that food products marked with the label ‘Km0’ have been produced within a radius of 50 kms.