FC Porto receives a “Green Heart” certificate for outstanding waste management practices
Awarded by Filipe Araújo, the city of Porto’s vice-mayor, this award confirms the successful local implementation of the ACCESS project and its contribution to a more circular Porto.
The certificate in question, awarded to the Dragão stadium in particular, is the Green Heart certificate, the highest recognition granted by the Greater Porto’s Intermunicipal Association for Sustainable Waste Management – LIPOR, and confirms a commitment to sound and responsible resource management. Any private or public organisation, educational or hospitality entity or institution and event venues can apply for it. By taking part in this challenge, they receive technical support from a team of LIPOR consultants, who, between the diagnosis and the definition of the action plan, will be responsible for leading the implementation of good practices, particularly in sustainable waste management, towards the Green Heart. The award “which attests to the good practices implemented in the context of waste management” took place on 11 March and was attended by the club’s vice-presidents João Borges, and Filipe Araújo, of Porto City Council.
The event, which validated and justified FC Porto’s participation in the ACCESS project took place alongside the presentation of the Free Kicks project, another Erasmus+ funded project the club participates. As a reminder, the process of obtaining the Certificate which included an initial audit, assessment and identification of gaps and improvement potential and the subsequent assistance and guidance by LIPOR’s technicians was one of the three Pilot Actions that the Porto Circular City Committee had put forward as a part of their ACCESS Action Plan.
Teresa Santos stated that Coração Verde “reflects the union between the club and the city”, two institutions that “breathe the same values and share the same environmental concerns”. “It is a source of great pride to continue to be at the forefront of these issues”, added the person responsible for Sustainability at FC Porto. Filipe Araújo, in turn, spoke of “a very important event” with the “big brand in the city” that “has done an exceptional job” and “set an example” with regard to environmental practices.
“We presented two projects financed by the European Union in which FC Porto is involved. Free Kicks, whose main output was the implementation of the EMAS certification, and two pilot projects included in the Access Project. One of the pilots is the Coração Verde certification, which attests to the good practices we have implemented within the scope of waste management, both at the game level and at the daily operation level. A second project, which is the possibility of using water for reuse in the stadium’s irrigation and we also had the presentation of the Porto Climate Pact a, of which we are already subscribers. This reflects the union between the club and the city, because we breathe the same values and share the same environmental concerns. Estádio do Dragão has been a reference, we have been certified in the environmental area since 2007 and it is something that we have tested over these 20 years.
Teresa Santos, Sustainability Manager, FC Porto
“This is a very important event. We are talking about FC Porto, the great brand of the city that projects us beyond borders and, by projecting the values of sustainability, makes the municipality of Porto very happy, because it is an area where we have made a great effort to elevate the city itself, with all its stakeholders, to another level in these areas. FC Porto has done an exceptional job, and we only award the Green Heart to those who follow these principles of sustainability and to those who reach other levels. We are here to celebrate this moment, as there is work in terms of waste by FC Porto, which greatly increased its recycling, which contributed to the city’s major objective, which is to start recycling organic waste. Today there are brown containers spread across the city, so that we can all recycle organic waste, and FC Porto has set an example in this regard.”
Filipe Araújo, vice-president of Porto City Council