Of the 537 participations received, 32% expected to have a drinking fountain at “Praça Nossa Senhora da Conceição”, 29% preferred the “Centro de Ciência de Vila Real”, 16% chose “Avenida Carvalho Araújo”, 11% of the participants mentioned “Alameda de Grasse” and 7% the “Ciclovia” (bike path). Other locations were also suggested, such as “Estação”, “Jardim da Carreira”, “Passadiços”, “Vila Velha”, all with percentages below 5%. It should be noted that some of these spaces already have drinking fountains, so the municipality will proceed to georeferencing and check their state of conservation, with a view to making the location known, thus stimulating the use, with the intention of reducing the plastic packaging, thus avoiding environmental impacts in the extraction of raw materials necessary for production.
Therefore, the location of the five drinking fountains to be installed in this phase will be: “Praça Nossa Senhora da Conceição”, “Centro de Ciência de Vila Real”, “Avenida Carvalho Araújo”, “Alameda de Grass” and “Ciclovia”. Drinking fountains will be developed with 100% recycled plastic and prepared to be used not only by adults, children and people with reduced mobility, but also by pets. Each drinking fountain will be associated with a water measuring system, to account for the amount of water supplied by each equipment, serving as a real and measurable indicator of the reduction of packaging waste.
With this initiative, the Municipality of Vila Real intended to involve the local community in the development of this project through which it intends to promote the Circular Economy in the sector of plastic beverage and can packaging, based on the policy of the 5 R´s - rethinking, reducing, reuse, recycle and refuse.
This project is financed by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, through the EEA Grants and by the Secretary General for the Environment.