Valongo, Portugal
Valongo possesses a very rich and diversified identity with unique territorial marks which affirm and distinguish the municipality in the Metropolitan Area of Porto. With about 95.000 inhabitants, Valongo has a strategic location in the metropolitan region, with excellent accessibility and proximity to an International Airport, to a seaport, and to the second largest city in the country. Valongo is today strategically directed towards the construction of a qualified and balanced territory, prepared to welcome investment, promote the settlement of people and attract tourists.
Circularity and solidarity
Valongo is strongly committed with promoting circularity in the territory in the most varied fields, namely through the increase of organic associated to urban gardens, the promotion of home composting and the creation of gardens in schools. The urban gardens initiative started in 2014, with the creation of the Urban vegetable Garden of Ponte da Presa, developed with two aims: giving use to an abandoned piece of land and to encourage better agricultural practices, to protect the soil and water courses from fertilizers and chemical pollutants. Currently, the Municipality has four vegetable gardens accessible to all citizens, with a total of 327 plots, where cultivation involves the application of organic methods.
An "Urban Agriculture Laboratory" is currently underway on Leça River, demonstrating the food production processes in urban spaces, promoting the requalification of the urban forest and riparian forest, and contributing to the preservation of the ecological values present and the circular economy.
Through communication and awareness campaigns Valongo encourages the population to know more and participate in the common goal of decreasing waste production and promoting recycling, thus contributing to circularity. Solidarity also plays an important role in raising awareness, the Municipality allocates a percentage of sale value of the waste to social solidarity institutions in the region. Valongo waste management system covers the main waste flows, including electrical and electronic waste, and construction and demolition waste, and, recently, hazardous household waste and other recoverable waste.
Waste management
The Municipality of Valongo has been seeking to improve and innovate the practices associated with waste management, not only from the point of view of methodologies, but also in order to make them simpler and more accessible to citizens. To this end, the door-to-door selective waste collection network has been strengthened, which is particularly important for processing food waste and preventing it from being deposited in common bins.
In addition to selective waste collection, the municipality is also part of the “Wrap it Up” project, developed with the Association of Municipalities for the Sustainable Management of Waste in Porto Area (LIPOR), consisting of providing biodegradable packaging free of charge to restaurants in , with the aim of making this packaging available to their customers for the disposal of leftovers/excess food from meals. When a customer “does not eat everything” they wrap up and take home what is left over from the meal, thus avoiding the production of waste.