The Regional Director for the revealed in Horta that the referral of municipal waste for recovery operations increased from 13% in 2012 to 31% in 2015, with the subsequent reduction of deposition in landfills from 87% to 69%.
 
"In 2012, we recovered 18 thousand tonnes of waste, corresponding to 13% of production." Last year, we recovered "almost 40,500 tonnes, which represents 31% of waste generated," said Hernâni Jorge at the presentation of the 2015 Report on the Production and Management of Municipal Waste.
 
The Regional Director also stressed the downward trend in waste production that was seen in 2014 and 2015 "as a result of the public prevention policies" pursued by the Government of the Azores.
 
Hernâni Jorge stressed that this reduction exceeded the target set by the Strategic Waste Management Plan of the Autonomous Region of the Azores (PEGRA), whose preventive component on waste production has been reinforced in the current legislative period with the entry into force of PEPGRA.
 
Thus, the production of municipal waste in the Azores amounted to 131 thousand tonnes in 2015, which is well below the estimates of the plan set at 140 thousand tonnes.
 
On the other hand, the Regional Director revealed that the Government will carry out an awareness campaign on all islands, with the distribution of two leaflets.
 
One of the leaflets intends to promote the reuse of used clothing and the other is focused on the separation of biodegradable and plant/forest biomass waste by citizens, through deliveries at Waste Processing Centres (CPR) in the Region.
 
The exemption from bio-waste and plant biomass delivery rates at CPR for individuals and the campaign due to start next week also aims to encourage the use of compost and prevent the frequent referral of such waste to collection points intended for unsorted waste.
 
Asked by journalists, Jorge Hernâni said that, despite the very positive developments, there is still "a long way to go to achieve the goals we set for ourselves in 2020" and defended that "we can all do more."
 
In this context, he stressed the commitment of allowing municipalities that still do not have selective collection systems to use the operational programme funds for its implementation, while the remaining municipalities face the challenge of constant improvement of these systems.
 
By 2020, the Azores intend to prepare at least 50% of municipal waste for reuse and recycling, including paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, metal, wood and biodegradable waste. Last year, the Region registered a rate of 24.4%.