In a statement, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action said that the "Biobairros - da terra à terra" notice has a maximum allocation of €500,000, with co-financing of 85 percent up to a maximum value of €31,250 per application.

"In order to make the economy truly circular, legislative changes have established the obligation to ensure, by 31 December 2023, that bio-waste is separated and recycled at source, and to allow high-quality recycling and boost the use of high-quality secondary raw materials," the Ministry of the Environment said.

According to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Action, the Environmental Fund, under the notice published in Diário da República, encourages municipalities to promote more effective recycling and strengthen the reduction of waste disposal in landfills.

"The notice 'Biobairros - da terra à terra' aims to divert bio-waste from landfills in municipalities that have high levels of undifferentiated collection, through separation and recycling at source," stresses the Ministry of Environment, noting that "waste policies have evolved towards the sustainable management of materials, in order to protect, preserve and improve the quality of the environment and promote the principles of the circular economy."

The Ministry indicates that the solutions to be implemented to ensure separation at source should have as objectives the use of bio-waste produced by the producer himself (home composting) and the local availability of a network at source to receive bio-waste and distribute the compost (community composting, decentralised biocomposting).

"Aimed at all regions of mainland Portugal, eligible beneficiaries of this notice are the municipalities, the managing entities of urban waste management systems responsible for the activities of undifferentiated collection or selective collection of bio-waste or managing entities of inter-municipal waste management systems to which this responsibility has been delegated by the municipalities," it is added.

Applications may be submitted until 11:59pm on 17 June on the Environmental Fund's website, on the page dedicated to the call "Biobairros - da terra à terra" (https://www.fundoambiental.pt/avisos-2021/residuos-e-economia-circular/biobairros-da-terra-a-terra-.aspx).