The Gondomar unit will cost 55 million and the intermunicipal company that manages waste from eight municipalities in the Porto Metropolitan Area is looking for financing. Until then, focus on smaller projects. Póvoa de Varzim now has the first Waste Microdigestion Unit and is already transforming food waste into electricity. Others may arise. Matosinhos will be next.
“It has a capacity of 2.5 tons/day, which is equivalent to 900 tons/year of food waste, coming either from door-to-door residential collection or from the Horeca project [dos restaurantes]”, said the president of Lipor, José Manuel Ribeiro, before visiting the Poveira unit, in Laundos.
The mayor of Valongo also explains that the collection of organic waste has been growing, as a result of the expansion of door-to-door and Horeca, so it is necessary to find new ways of recovery. Until now, Lipor only had the Organic Valorization Center, with capacity to receive 60 thousand tons/year, which are transformed into 13 thousand tons of 100% organic fertilizer, Nutrimais. But the truth is that, emphasizes José Manuel Ribeiro, the plant “is exhausted”.
The new Anaerobic Digestion Plant will have the capacity to receive 60 thousand tons/year, which is expected to produce four million m3 of gas annually, enough to feed around eight thousand families.
The president of Lipor admits that the project is “ambitious” and recalls that the company is “a leader in the recovery and treatment of waste”, with “enviable” landfill rates (less than 1%). Now, it is necessary to “seek support, particularly through community funds”.
Until then, “small” Waste Microdigestion Units could be a solution. The first opened in Póvoa. Receives all leftover food from door-to-door collection. It cost 760 thousand euros and already produces electricity: 20% powers the space, the rest is injected into the grid. In addition to the “profit” – which already allows around 50 families to be fed – “there are 10 fewer trucks going to Lipor every day”, emphasizes the mayor of Póvoa, Aires Pereira, welcoming Lipor’s strategy of bringing together equipment in places where waste is produced.
