VISIT TO BRAVAL

One of our initial ideas for creating sustainable packaging for food and beverages' industries was the use of recycled material. Therefore, we thought it was pertinent to get in touch with some companies that could help us to better understand the world of recycling. On October 20th, our team had the privilege to visit Braval, a company specialized in the recovery and treatment of solid waste, in the low Cávado. Braval was created in 1996 with 3 major objectives, being those the closure and environment recovery of open bumps, the constitution of a sanitary landfill and the implementation of selective collection though a network of recycling bins.

We had a meeting with the executive general director Dr. Pedro Machado who, in a very helpful way, explained to us how does braval proceed in the separation of materials for recycling and how they monitor the landfill in order to prevent pollution of the surrounding soil and air. Another striking point, is the use of bio gas produced in the landfill from the decomposition of waste for the production of electricity, which is later sold by Braval to the national electricity grid.

Braval receives 100,000 tons of urban solid waste per year, of which 45,000 tons could be recycled. On the other hand, it receives 25000 tonnes of materials through the recycling bin network, unfortunately only 17000 tonnes are in fact recyclable, the rest being contaminant, that is, garbage that was placed in the recycling bin isn't recyclable. This numbers could be much higher if people separated, in the right way, their garbage.

Besides that, there is the waste management fee, which is a value that all citizens pay for their waste that goes to landfill. In 2021, this rate increased from €11 to €22/tonne. If everyone recicled, in addiction to not contributing to the destruction of the planet, the amount of urban solid waste collected by Braval alone would be reduced to 55,000 tons per year, and for that reason, the fee would be much lower.

In short, we all agree that this meeting was very enlightening, as we gained fundamental knowledge that will be important for our project, since one of our biggest goals is to be as sustainable as possible, but above all, we will take this knowledge to life, given that as citizens and part of the future generation, we have to be aware of the impact of our actions in the world.