In a statement, ZERO, which promotes the program at a national level, says that these now join the other five candidate cities: Albergaria-a-Velha and São João da Madeira (Aveiro), Corvo (Azores), Guimarães (Braga), and Vila de Rei (Castelo Branco).

According to ZERO, this certification “aims to promote measures for waste prevention, reuse, composting and, more generally, introduce a more efficient selective waste collection system, thus changing the current waste management paradigm”.

By 2035, municipalities are committed to involving their populations in sustainable waste management, focusing on reducing unsorted waste and promoting recycling, as well as other innovative projects that adapt to the reality of each territory, the organisation explains.

Each municipality's approach will depend on “the diagnosis of the reference situation, for the subsequent elaboration of a Zero Waste Plan, aligned with the principles of PAPERSU [Action Plan of the Strategic Plan for Urban Solid Waste], but more ambitious and comprehensive”, explains ZERO.

Referring to Funchal's candidacy, the association considers the efficient management of waste on the islands to be an “absolute priority”, in order to reduce the need to transport materials and waste by sea.

The municipality in the Madeira archipelago has a selective collection rate of close to 37%, “well above the national average”, the result of a large contribution from door-to-door collection and the existence of dedicated garbage houses in urban buildings, in addition to a growing investment in composting, he says.

In Ourique, in the district of Beja, the change from the current urban waste collection model, based on open ecopoints and voluntary disposal, to a door-to-door model, resulted in an improvement in the selective collection of bio-waste and an increase in the capture rate of recyclables, notes ZERO.

In Vilamoura (Loulé), in the district of Faro, the Zero Waste Plan “will be focused on the integration of several stakeholders to allow greater success rates in the implementation of new collection circuits, or new prevention and preparation projects for reuse and recycling”, he concludes.

Zero Waste certification is promoted at European level by Mission Zero Academy (MiZA) and Zero Waste Europe, and is driven by ZERO at national level.