Garbage in Lisbon was once again the subject of political debate this Tuesday in the Municipal Assembly, which unanimously recognizes the existence of problems, but disagrees about the responsibilities, by 5″authentic blame game”, especially between PS and PSD, according to several deputies.
At the proposal of the Livre party, the Municipal Assembly debated “the current situation of waste management and urban hygiene in Lisbon”, which resulted in the approval of a recommendation for the city council to present the Action Plan of the Strategic Plan of Urban Solid Waste. of Lisbon 2030 (PAPERSU 2030) until the end of this year.
Despite praising the importance of discussing the issue, the leader of the municipal PSD group, Luís Newton, considered that this debate “is the first concerted action of the left front ahead of the elections.” [autárquicas] 2025”, remembering that the proposal was from Livre and, “the day before, the PS launched a ‘billboard’ campaign”, in which it alludes to the current management of Carlos Moedas (PSD) and the accumulated garbage.
The social democrat tried to dispel what he considers “myths”, namely that Lisbon’s administrative reform reduced the city’s garbage collection capacity and that the problem only arose under the management of Carlos Moedas, because he has not invested in urban hygiene , rejecting all these ideas and stating that The situation with socialist governance “was pressing”.
Rejecting the “witch hunt,” Luís Newton stressed that “the problems belong to everyone” and maintained that “The PS also has to be part of the solution.“, suggesting the reform of the operating model in this area, including the reinforcement of technological solutions, and the Regulation of Urban Waste Management, Cleaning and Urban Hygiene.
Presenting several photographs of the garbage accumulated in the 24 parishes of Lisbon, the municipal deputy of the PS, Carla Madeira, stated that the situation is worse compared to 2022, when the last debate on the issue took place in the assembly: “There is almost as many complaints as the garbage that accumulates,” he said.
“We know that the issue of waste collection in the city has always experienced moments of pressure. Between 2015 and 2019, the production of urban waste increased by around 34 tons, reaching, in 2019, 327 thousand tons of waste,” said the socialist, indicating that, between 2019 and 2023, there was a reduction to 314 thousand tons, or that is, “13 thousand tons less garbage,” but the problems persist.
Recalling the intervention of Carlos Moedas on the confusion around garbage collection, in particular on what is the responsibility of the parish councils and what is the responsibility of the city council, Carla Madeira affirmed that it is in the hands of the executive “to put an end to this confusion”, in which “let’s just not delegate this responsibility” and let the municipality guarantee “the collection of everything throughout the city.”
The PS deputy criticized the “tiny amount” of the delegation of powers contracts, indicating that, as mayor of the parish of Misericórdia, she was expecting the amount to double due to the increase in the tourist tax, but she was “surprised by the negative”, with a proposed increase of “around 5%”.
Pointing out responsibilities to the municipal management of Carlos Moedas, Maria Ofélia Janeiro (Livre) He complained about the lack of direction in waste management in the city.Miguel Graça (from Cidadãos Por Lisboa, elected by the PS/Livre coalition) accused “inertia and lack of vision” and Maria Escaja (BE) warned that “It is a public health problem”.
Questioning the current operational model of urban hygiene, PCP and PEV reiterated their position regarding the 2012 administrative reform that led to the existence of 25 entities (the chamber and 24 councils) with powers in this matter, the PAN defended “an impartial evaluation and rigorous”, the MPT asked for an “urgent clarification of responsibilities”, IL suggested an external audit and the CDS-PP proposed the creation of a municipal company to solve the problems.
After the intervention of the deputies, the Councilor for Urban Hygiene, Ângelo Pereira (PSD), republished with photographs of garbage accumulated between 2018 and 2021, when the municipality was administered by the PSstating that “it is everyone’s problem and can be solved by everyone, everyone must be available to solve it”, launching an appeal to the PS bench and indicating that he will give a ‘pen’ to the general secretary of the PS, Pedro Nuno Santos, to reveal ” who was also responsible for the situation.”
“This is not a problem now, it is a problem that has been going on for decades. Either the opposition parties want to be part of the solution or they want to be part of the problem,” Ângelo Pereira stressed, criticizing the use of this issue to “play politics” and accusing “some parties, including the PS,” of take photographs of garbage from the time that is placed on the street for collection.
The councilor also said that, between 2019 and 2023, the performance of the collection service increased, complaints decreased, the number of collection points, circuits made, containers, vehicles, corner workers and drivers, and actions against pests increased, highlighting the increase. in investments in this area, with human and technical resources, including inspection and awareness-raising resources.
Source: Observadora
