Porto Ambiente prepares major São João clean-up in Porto

As the São João bonfires begin to die down and revellers start making their way home, Porto Ambiente’s street-cleaning and waste-collection teams take over. For the municipal company’s workforce, this is regarded as the “worst day of the year”, with around 450 staff assigned to restore Porto’s appearance after the night’s festivities.

São João clean-up begins before dawn

The first team will arrive at Aliados at four o’clock tomorrow morning to start clearing the streets of the remnants left by hours of celebration. Shortly afterwards, at around six, additional crews will begin tackling the areas where São João festivities are at their busiest. Largo Amor de Perdição, Virtudes, Taipas, the nightlife district, Ribeira and the riverside route from Ponte do Freixo to the Anemone sculpture will be the first locations cleaned.

Maximum demands on Porto Ambiente

“This is a highly demanding week, which we have been planning for around two or three months. As well as São João, we have also had Air Invictus, and we will have Babell and the World Cup matches shown in the Fan Zone at Praça D. João I. However, we have excellent professionals who help put the plan we have developed into operation,” said Tiago Silva, urban cleaning co-ordinator. Although every detail has been planned, unforeseen circumstances, such as the weather, can still disrupt months of preparation.

According to Rui Quintela, director of urban cleaning, encouraging residents to adopt civic-minded behaviour and increasing the number of public waste bins will be valuable measures in reducing the workload for crews on the ground. While the priority will be the most heavily used areas, cleaning across the rest of Porto cannot be overlooked.

Restoring Porto after the celebrations

Sílvio Tavares, the general urban-cleaning supervisor, leads the workers responsible for maintaining the city’s appearance. “We like to look back and see that everything is clean. It is our image, and that is what I fight for; we have to see this as if it were our own home. Although I expect a hard day, I enjoy the adrenaline,” said Sílvio.