1.Sustainability includes multiple fields of action: environmental, social, and economic. Which path has EGF followed in all these dimensions?

Sustainability is part of EGF’s DNA, it is an organic characteristic; we do not fulfil our mission if the development we promote and its consequences are not sustainable. Our mission is to deal and manage the waste of roughly 60% of the Portuguese population – who consumes, uses, and manages resources every day, but who also wastes, disposes, and demands a good waste treatment, with security and quality, at the lowest possible cost.

With this framework, our task is clear – to deliver the best environmental service according to the established goals and to manage collective resources with efficiency and effectiveness, which translates to attaining a fair cost for all parts, and considering we pay an essential public service.

Throughout its 75 years of history, reached in 2022, EGF underwent many transformations, some of them quite profound. The most outstanding one for what we are today is when focus and activity were finally oriented exclusively towards the environmental sector and the management of waste.

In this framework, EGF and the concessionary companies in which it participates were moved by the sustainable development of the country and that of the regions where they operate: for instance, the closure of public waste dumps; the construction of infrastructures to value waste; the introduction of a general selective collection of packages; the production of energy from collected waste or the promotion of the citizens’ awareness and communication.

2.Cities move now towards a decarbonised reality. In your opinion, is Portugal adopting the necessary measures to fulfil these goals in the expected time period?

Portugal is certainly carving its path with ambitious plans in a phase where many adverse conditions exist in multiple areas, such as the current situation of the production and distribution of energy and raw materials, the severe drought in most of the country and the high inflation.

Concerning EGF, it is significant to mention the elaboration of an inventory of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GEE) about the years 2019 and 2020. This inventory had as main goal the elaboration of an action plan allowing to stablish new goals when it comes to the reduction of GEE in EGF’s concessionaries, so that we can keep up with the country’s goal of reaching carbonic neutrality by 2050.

3.Environmental awareness is a topic with a particular importance for EGF. Which way is the best to raise citizen’s awareness for the matter of sustainability and the preservation of the environment?

The education and the raising of environmental awareness are key points in the whole process of management of the resources and waste – the citizen is the beginning of everything. We, as citizens, cannot be seen as mere waste producers, who discard everything we buy. We can take on our role of resource managers – both ours and the ones from the community. If this role is understood and this responsibility takes place, the processes of appreciation the resources, and in fact of raw materials, gains value.

To fulfil this purpose, EGF and its concessionaries promote initiatives in schools; in commerce; in event planning; in markets; in companies and institutions. We have been doing so for many years and we believe this is the systematic and consistent process that ensures a behavioural change. Last year, still an atypic year, influenced by the pandemics, the EGF group promoted direct actions in communities engaging roughly 1 million people. This year, with the withdrawing of restrictions and a growing social activity, we hope to increase further the engagement of the citizens.

4.The Recycling Line is EGF’s most recent project. How do you see the possibility of combining this service and the answers to the questions and problems felt by the citizens who do not know what to do about their waste?

On October 27, 2021, EFG began a new line and citizen support service – the Recycling Line – a FREE, NATIONAL, CUSTOMIZED service, created to provide efficient answers to citizens, especially to answer queries, information requests, suggestions, complaints, praises, and service requests.

With this service, all the forms of contact with the concessionaries were integrated, which allowed for more efficacy in the management of the service of selective collection and the citizens’ contact. The membership and the use of the Recycling Line has gone beyond our most positive expectations, making clear that the citizens are indeed engaged in the process of understanding the waste they produce and that they want to contribute through their actions for a more sustainable society.

On a curious note, there are many more questions we are asked for coming from areas of the country not belonging to the EGF’s areas of concession and related to subjects and waste we do not manage. However, and whenever possible, we provide an answer to all citizens who get in touch with us, even if the response only mentions the way of contact, so the citizen’s problem can be solved with the right institution.

Answering very directly your question, we are already providing solutions to all citizens, but we still have lots of room to evolve and to ensure a better quality about replying to these issues.

5.The social dimension must always be associated to the projects in the cities. According to you, is this idea currently considered when beginning new projects?

If the social dimension is not considered, any project will be incomplete, and sooner or later difficulties will appear. In our situation and in our activity of management, the social dimension is at the core of the projects – if we evaluate the daily waste produced by person, all the projects must consider variables such as localisation, the amount of produced waste and evolution prospects or engagement from the community. I can assure that when it comes to new projects of waste appreciation, the social dimension is immensely relevant, and if it is not given its right importance, the projects cannot be fulfilled.

6.For you, to be #BeyondGreen is…?

To be #BeyondGreen is to be more demanding and responsible. It is not worth to disguise as ‘green practices’ the ones already been proven not to be sustainable. It is worth making good choices and to take decisions allowing for the planet to improve when compared to the situation of our generation.