Firefighters’ associations have raised a record 270,000 euros this year by collecting 2,300 tons of batteries, bulbs and electrical equipment, the Electrão association announced today.
In the 8th edition of the “Quartel Electrão” initiative, carried out by Eletrão – Associação de Gestão de Resíduos, in partnership with the League of Portuguese Firefighters, 201 firefighters’ associations from all over the country took part, the association said in a statement.
According to Electrão, the mission of the firefighters’ associations is to collect this waste, raising awareness and mobilizing the population and companies about the importance of separating it and sending it correctly for recycling.
For each ton collected, firefighters’ associations receive financial compensation of 75 euros, as well as an extra financial incentive if they collect more than 30, 45 and 60 tons.
According to Electrão, the results of this initiative have made a positive contribution to the network’s results, which “in 2023 exceeded 20,000 tons of used electrical equipment collected for recycling”.
Quoted in the press release, the association’s director-general, Ricardo Furtado, said that the firefighters delivered for recycling around 12% of the quantities collected during the year by Electrão’s own collection network, which represents “a very important contribution to the overall results achieved”.
“More and more volunteer firefighters are an agent for protecting the environment across the board, whether through their work protecting the population and forests, or by raising awareness of the need to recycle batteries, bulbs and used electrical equipment,” he said.
Much of this waste contains hazardous elements which, if not treated correctly, have a negative impact on the environment and human health, he explains.
For his part, the president of the League of Portuguese Firefighters, António Nunes, emphasizes that this initiative “allows us to aim to obtain support” for the firefighters’ mission and, on the other hand, allows them to fulfill their “environmental responsibility as simple citizens”.
To reward the associations that collected the most equipment nationwide, Electrão distributed a light firefighting vehicle to the Humanitarian Association of the Volunteer Firefighters of Figueira da Foz, in the district of Coimbra, for having collected the most equipment in 2023, totaling 97 tons of used batteries, light bulbs and electrical equipment.
The Humanitarian Association of Volunteer Firefighters of Cantanhede, also in the district of Coimbra, was awarded second place, with a prize of five thousand euros.
The Quartel Electrão project began 12 years ago and has already enabled more than 14,000 tons of used batteries, light bulbs and other electrical equipment to be collected and sent for recycling.
The 9th edition of the initiative kicked off in January this year and ends on November 30, with the participation of firefighters’ associations from all over the country, who have “the opportunity to continue their work in support of the community and protection of the environment”, the statement said.
Electrão is a waste management association responsible for three of the main waste collection and recycling systems: packaging, batteries and used electrical equipment, with a collection network of more than 11,000 points across the country.
“Its main mission is to ensure the recycling of the waste collected, contributing to the minimization of the environmental impact and to the reuse of the materials that make it up, promoting the circular economy,” the note concludes.
