Recycling quality

1. Objective

To explore, test and implement innovative Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) / Save-As-You-Throw (SAYT) schemes adapted to dense urban environments, aiming to improve separate waste collection performance, enhance recycling quality, reduce residual waste generation, and foster long-term behavioural change through fair, transparent and incentive-based approaches.

The project seeks to address the operational and governance challenges of implementing economic incentive systems in cities with shared waste infrastructure, including communal containers, underground systems, pneumatic collection and multi-family residential buildings.

2. Additional framing

Many European cities face significant barriers when introducing PAYT/SAYT systems in complex urban contexts, where individual waste measurement and user accountability are difficult to implement. High-density neighbourhoods, historic urban fabrics, tourism pressure, and collective housing models create additional technical, operational and social challenges.

The City of Lisbon aims to join an URBACT Action Planning Network to exchange knowledge and co-develop practical, scalable and transferable solutions for PAYT/SAYT implementation in dense urban settings.

The network should explore:

• Technological solutions for monitoring and access control (e.g. smart containers, user identification systems, digital tracking and data management);
• Governance and regulatory models adapted to complex urban realities;
• Incentive mechanisms that are socially fair and operationally feasible;
• Citizen engagement and communication strategies to ensure public acceptance and behavioural change.

Lisbon is particularly interested in testing real-life pilot actions, validating operational feasibility and generating evidence-based approaches that can be replicated across European cities.

3. Partners we are looking for

The City of Lisbon is seeking to join an experienced URBACT network led by a strong Lead Partner, bringing together cities that:

• Are planning, piloting or already implementing PAYT and/or SAYT schemes;
• Represent diverse urban realities, including dense city centres, historic districts, metropolitan areas, and tourism-intensive cities;
• Are committed to testing concrete pilot actions and translating learning into local implementation;
• Have expertise in municipal waste management, economic instruments, digital monitoring systems, governance models, or citizen engagement;
• Are interested in peer learning, knowledge exchange and co-developing transferable solutions for challenging urban environments.

We particularly welcome municipalities interested in addressing the complexities of shared waste systems and collective housing contexts.

4. Expected results

Through transnational cooperation and local experimentation, the project is expected to contribute to:

• The design and implementation of a pilot PAYT/SAYT scheme in Lisbon;
• Improved quantity and quality of separate waste collection;
• Reduction of residual (mixed) waste generation;
• Increased citizen participation, awareness and trust in waste management systems;
• Identification of replicable, scalable and evidence-based solutions for dense urban areas;
• Strengthened European knowledge exchange and policy learning on incentive-based waste systems.

5. What we offer

The City of Lisbon offers:

• Extensive experience in managing waste collection systems in large, dense and operationally complex urban environments;
• A real-life testing environment for PAYT/SAYT pilots, including areas with communal containers, underground infrastructure and high-density housing;
• Strong expertise in communication, behaviour change and public awareness campaigns related to waste prevention and separate collection;
• Proven experience in European cooperation projects, pilot implementation and stakeholder engagement;
• A strong commitment to active participation, knowledge sharing, testing and contribution to network outputs.