Amarsul invests around €10 million in new collection projects. This year, Amarsul will complete the “Reciclar Doce Reciclar” (Sweet Recycling) project, which aims to implement door-to-door selective collection of recyclable waste in areas already served by door-to-door collection of unsorted waste by municipalities, namely in Almada, Seixal and Sesimbra. Since the end of 2018, Amarsul has been strengthening its network of recycling points, bringing containers for recyclables closer to the population in order to make it more convenient to separate and dispose of this waste. This reinforcement has been carried out with 1,100-litre capacity containers, with 1,800 recycling points and glass recycling points built. By the end of 2019, a total of 8,320 1,100-litre containers, 1,560 recycling points and 1,582 glass recycling points will have been installed. In order to collect these new items, it was also necessary to increase the fleet, so new vehicles were purchased, three for commercial and service collection and 15 for domestic collection, in addition to hiring new workers.

Amarsul receives energy efficiency award from the Secretary of State for Energy and Energy Transition. With this award, Amarsul sees its ongoing work recognised, contributing significantly to national goals for a better environment, not only through its activity in municipal waste treatment and selective collection of recyclable waste, but also in energy resource management.

Launch of a new door-to-door project with awareness-raising activities and the provision of two containers for the disposal of paper/cardboard and plastic/metal packaging in residential areas that already have door-to-door collection of unsorted waste by the municipalities of Almada and Seixal.

Since 26 August 2016, Amarsul's CVO has also been extracting biogas, which is the gas resulting from the decomposition of organic matter in urban waste. The operation is carried out through an electricity production centre (CEP) where the extracted biogas is used as fuel in motor generators that produce electricity, which is then fed into the National Electricity Grid. In September 2016, biogas production at the CVO was around 157,000 Nm3, with a methane content of 60%, and 300 MWh of electricity was injected into the grid. At this stage, only one of the three motor generators (800 kW each) is in operation, but when the facility is fully operational in 2017, biogas and energy production is expected to be around 900 MWh/month, sufficient to meet the energy needs of 9,500 inhabitants.

The launch of the “Recycling is Helping” campaign is part of a series of social responsibility initiatives that Amarsul is developing with entities in its area of coverage. This pilot project, carried out in conjunction with the Humanitarian Association of Mixed Volunteer Firefighters of the Municipality of Seixal, aims to ensure that waste is properly sent to recycling points, rewarding those who promote good environmental practices with donations of materials to an institution that supports the population on a daily basis in its many areas of activity, and which may be extended to other corporations.

Amarsul launches innovative platform for locating recycling points. This project was developed in partnership with the Setúbal School of Technology/Setúbal Polytechnic Institute (EST/IPS), which reinforces its support for Amarsul in the development of optimisation projects. It should be noted that a project was recently developed with the aim of designing and implementing an advanced selective collection management system, which optimises the circuits and quantities of waste collected. Called the ‘Integrated Selective Collection Management System’, it is available on the Amarsul website.

AMARSUL receives two Summit Creative Awards 2013: Bronze Award for logo redesign, an opportunity that arose due to the celebration of AMARSUL's 15th anniversary, whose logo was recreated with reference to the event. For a year, the Amarsul 15th anniversary logo was featured in all of the company's communications; the Silver Award was given to AMARSUL Eco Fashion, a fashion show featuring designs made entirely from recyclable materials, which has been promoting recycling and the reuse of materials since 2010.

AMARSUL Eco Fashion won the APCE 2012 Grand Prize in the Special Event category. Amarsul Eco Fashion is a unique event that aims to be a national benchmark in demonstrating the potential for reusing recyclable waste. Yesterday, it was honoured at the headquarters of Lusitânia, as the best Special Event held in 2011, as part of the APCE 2012 Grand Prize (Portuguese Association of Corporate Communication), which aims to recognise excellence in organisational communication strategy, stimulating, recognising and publicising the initiatives of professionals in this field.

In March, the Biogas Energy Plant at the Palmela Ecopark began operating. The Palmela Ecopark Power Generation Centre will have capacity for two Deutz/MWM motor generator sets (installed in soundproof containers and equipped with all safety devices, complying with current legal requirements). each with an electrical power of 1,200 k and an electrical efficiency of 42.1% at maximum load, with the capacity to operate 8,300 hours/year, reaching an annual electricity production potential of 17,530 MWh.

A protocol has been established with the Setúbal Food Bank Against Hunger, which aims to donate €1 to the fight against hunger in the Setúbal Peninsula for every tonne of glass packaging waste (bottles, jars and pots) recycled and sold for recovery under the integrated packaging waste system. This Protocol is formalised with the ‘Dê O Litro Contra A Fome’ (Give a Litre Against Hunger) Campaign, which features World Judo Vice-Champion Telma Monteiro and will run for six months.

Launch of a pilot project for the collection of plastic/metal and paper/cardboard packaging in homes in Belverde and Marisol, where a container was provided for the disposal of recyclable waste, with collections every Monday and Wednesday.

On 21 July 2008, the construction contract was signed with Sociedade de Construções Soares da Costa, S.A./CTU – Conzepte Technik Umwelt AG., for the construction of the Organic Recovery Plant.

Signing of contract with AGNI for the installation of the Biogas Power Plant in Palmela.

SAP system implementation.

Refurbishment of the Setúbal Composting Plant and development of an integrated certification process covering the environment, quality, and health and safety.

Implementation of the Biogas Energy Utilisation System in Seixal and launch of door-to-door collection from businesses and services.

Integration of the municipality of Setúbal into the Multimunicipal System.

Application for Complementary Actions for the Treatment and Recovery of MSW from the South Bank of the Tagus.

Application to the Cohesion Fund for the construction of the Seixal Biogas Energy Utilisation System, expansion of the Palmela Sorting Centre and development of awareness campaigns.

Construction of six eco-centres and completion of the installation of recycling points in the eight municipalities of Amarsul

Start-up of packaging waste sorting stations and construction of three cells at the Palmela landfill site and construction of cell C at the Seixal landfill site.

Implementation of selective waste collection with the acquisition of eight collection vehicles and consolidation of the management of the two landfills in Palmela and Seixal.

Amarsul was established by Decree-Law No. 53/97 of 4 March, and on 16 May, a 25-year operating concession contract was signed between Amarsul and the Portuguese State.