Azores Situation Report Wednesday 13th August 2025
The Azores managed to recover 76% of their urban waste
Around two-thirds (76%) of the waste generated in the Azores was recycled in 2024, a “very significant advance” compared to previous years, according to the regional secretary for the Environment.
According to data provided by Alonso Miguel, who was speaking at the presentation of the 2024 report on urban waste in Ponta Delgada, there were “improvements in packaging management and collection, with a rate of 83.5 kilograms per inhabitant in 2024,” a 4.8% increase compared to 2023.
The Minister of Environment and Climate Action highlighted two factors that he considered “very differentiating and prestigious for the region,” namely the rate of waste preparation for reuse and recycling, which reached 48% in 2024, 33% more than in 2023.
At the national level, he added, the rate of waste preparation for reuse and recycling was 23%, compared to 48% in the Azores.
Alonso Miguel also said that, in 2020, the rate “was only 31.2%, which represents a 54% increase” and leaves the region “very close to achieving the EU targets for 2025.”
According to the minister, one of the determining factors for this growth was the commissioning of the mechanical and biological treatment plant on the island of São Miguel.
“It has even been possible to achieve the EU target set for 2025, which was 55%, since São Miguel achieved a rate of 56%,” he stated.
Another “relevant statistic” highlighted by the regional secretary concerns the diversion of landfill waste, which in the Azores “reached a very significant 45% in 2020, reaching 24% this year.”
These results, he emphasized, demonstrate that the Azores are “on a very solid path to achieving the EU target for landfill waste disposal by 2035, which is 10%.
However, the Environment Minister also highlighted “less positive data that warrant additional efforts, particularly regarding waste management on Terceira Island, where the rate of preparation for reuse and recycling remains stagnant, with a slight reduction to 19%.
Communications traffic at MEO Monte Verde equal to 13 years of calls
The festival, which brought together around 40,000 people on Monte Verde beach, in Ribeira Grande, was also the first in the Azores to have sign language interpreters.
The MEO Monte Verde 2025 festival recorded communications traffic equivalent to more than 13 years of calls, MEO revealed in a press release.
Last weekend, around 40,000 people gathered on Monte Verde beach, in Ribeira Grande, for three days of music, sharing and innovation.
And as stated in a press release, for the first time in the Azores, a festival featured Portuguese Sign Language interpreters, ensuring that the music could be felt by everyone, complementing the mobility solutions already available at the venue and ensuring that everyone could fully enjoy the festival experience.
This initiative, part of the MEO Foundation’s “Music with Meaning” project, reinforced the event’s commitment to cultural accessibility and social inclusion, in a festival that also included the strengthening of technological infrastructure, ensuring that thousands of festivalgoers could share moments and stay connected quickly and safely.
Santa Clara makes its home debut on August 17th
The Portuguese Professional Football League (LPFP) released, last Friday, the schedule for the second round of the I Liga, where the “encarnados” from Ponta Delgada will play the first match at home, on August 17, against Moreirense.
The duel between the Azoreans and the “canons” is scheduled to start at 5 pm and will be played three days after Santa Clara plays the second leg of the third qualifying round of the Conference League, against Northern Ireland’s Larne.
The second round of the main Portuguese football competition starts next Friday (August 15), with AFS hosting Casa Pia, at 2:30 pm.
Three more matches follow on Saturday, with the clash between Tondela and Famalicão (2:30 pm), Vitória de Guimarães – Estoril (5:00 pm) and also Benfica’s visit to Estrela da Amadora’s home (7:30 pm), with the duel between the “tricolores” and “águias” being subject to changes, depending on the qualification of the “encarnados” for the Champions League play-off.
On Sunday, in addition to Santa Clara-Moreirense, there are three more matches to highlight, with Rio Ave hosting Nacional (2:30 pm), the duel between Alverca and Sporting de Braga (5:00 pm) and Sporting debuting, at 7:30 pm, the “renovated” Estádio José Alvalade, against Arouca, with the round concluding on Monday, from 7:15 pm, with FC Porto’s visit to Gil Vicente’s stronghold.