We should all be talking about waste management. To rephrase: we should all be properly managing the waste we produce. Did you know that landfills in Portugal are at 14% of their capacity? In the Algarve, existing landfills are expected to reach their saturation capacity by 2028 – that’s just 2 years away! And more than half of the waste produced in Portugal still goes to these locations.

The citrus sector in the Algarve has been doing important and consistent work over the past few years: the main waste we produce is organic waste, that is, decomposing fruit. We generate about 11,500 tons of this waste annually, which we transform into a resource by utilizing it in the best possible way:

• The organic waste produced on farms is incorporated, as organic matter, into the soil – this includes prunings that are shredded or rotten fruit that falls to the ground;
• The waste resulting from the operation of packing centers can have two main destinations: biogas production or organic compost production. In the last year, the members of AlgarOrange have been working with URSA (EDIA) for the rerouting of this waste, since there has been no available solution in the Algarve since June 2025.

Additionally, at Frutas Tereso, we have been developing our Environmental Dossier and currently have a recycling rate close to 95%, which we are very proud of. For this, we rely on our team, which has been trained to correctly identify the destination of each waste, along with weekly collections of plastic and cardboard/paper from ALGAR.

Participating in the Working Session at CCMAR - University of Algarve a few weeks ago was important, not only to validate the path we have been taking but also to understand that various economic sectors in the Algarve are very willing to collaborate to address the existing needs, namely:

• We need to provide the Algarve with a greater set of solutions for waste management – considering its positioning and experience, ALGAR, together with CCDR Algarve, should lead this process; from the agriculture side, through FEDAGRI, we ask CCDR Algarve that the review of PROTAL considers a clearer and more suitable framework for the installation of infrastructures supporting the management of agricultural waste and biowaste in the context of agricultural exploitation or in territorial proximity solutions;
• Although we know that the organic waste produced by the sector I work in can be better utilized, it is necessary for legislation to reflect this reality – APA and Ministério do Ambiente, when will the definition of strategic resource attributed to olive pomace be extended to other organic waste?
• Entering the carbon credit market and its functioning needs to be easier – we are missing too many opportunities to utilize the fundamental role of our trees in carbon retention.

The challenges and the solutions are identified by all. The environmental consequences of poor waste management (pollution, greenhouse gas emissions) and the benefits of recycling and composting are clear. Farmers in the Algarve will continue to roll up their sleeves to ensure the sustainability of the sector and, consequently, environmental sustainability, because, after all, it is Nature we depend on.