How to get rid of stuff in Lisbon

From the editor

What residents need to know

Where things go in Lisbon

Every option in this guide, arranged by the thing you are getting rid of. A missing name is not a refusal. It means nobody has told us either way, which is worth asking about before you make the trip.

Free council collection, booked through Na Minha Rua LX, up to five cubic metres a week per household. Above that the council quotes you a price.

There is no dedicated mattress recycling route anywhere in Portugal. A mattress qualifies for free council collection only through the general definition of a bulky item, which is enough, but it is why nobody advertises a mattress service here.

Old fridges, washing machines and small appliances are electrical waste with their own free route, including collection from inside your home, which the council collection does not offer.

Televisions, screens and computers go the same way as appliances: a free national take-back scheme rather than the council. They do not belong in a normal bin.

The clothing containers on Lisbon streets are NOT run by the council. They belong to charities and operators, and Lisbon's regulation does not mention textiles at all. Portugal still has no producer-responsibility scheme for them, though municipalities have had to collect them separately since January 2025.

The words Lisbon uses

These are the terms on the city's own pages. They stay in the local language here for the same reason they do on a form: the English version will not get you to the right page.

Recolha de Monos

The council's free bulky-waste collection, monos being the big awkward things a normal bin will not take. Book it before you carry anything down; free up to five cubic metres a week per household, and reserved for individuals rather than companies.

Na Minha Rua LX

The council's request portal, at naminharualx.cm-lisboa.pt. It is where a bulky collection is booked, and it gives you a date and a time to leave the items out. Items left early are a fine rather than a collection.

ecocentro

A staffed drop-off centre you drive to. Lisbon's is at Lumiar, run by Valorsul, public and free, and it takes bulky items, electricals, garden waste and batteries, but not construction or demolition waste, which needs a booked council collection instead.

ecoponto

The recycling container on the street. It is for everyday household recyclables, not for the bulky or awkward things. Those go to an ecocentro or on a booked Recolha de Monos.

Electrão

The national take-back scheme for electrical equipment and batteries, paid for at the point the product was sold. Over 13,000 drop-off points, plus free collection of a large appliance from inside your home, which the council collection does not offer.

Loja Social

A social shop. Donations are sorted rather than simply resold: what is unusable goes for recycling, what is usable but not saleable goes to partner institutions, and the rest is sold cheaply in the shop.

câmara

The city council, in full, Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, and used lowercase mid-sentence. It runs the bulky collection, but it does not collect textiles: the clothing containers on Lisbon streets belong to charities and companies, not to the câmara.

SILOGR

APA's public register of licensed waste-treatment sites. In Portugal a collector only has to register and declare its figures once a year, licensing attaches to the site the waste is delivered to, which is why a firm advertising itself as a licensed collector is telling you less than it sounds.

retoma

Retailer take-back, and a legal obligation rather than a courtesy: a shop selling you an appliance must take one equivalent old item back free, including on home delivery. Any shop with over 400m² of electrical floor must take items under 25cm even if you buy nothing.

REEE

Resíduos de Equipamentos Elétricos e Eletrónicos, electrical and electronic waste. It cannot go out with the monos: it has its own free national route, which is what Electrão runs.

junta de freguesia

Your parish council. It handles street washing, litter bins, weeding, drains and the mess dumped around ecopontos, but NOT bulky waste or rubble, which stayed with the câmara. A junta will point you at the city's number rather than book a collection for you.

Things that catch people out

• Book bulky collection before you plan anything else. You may not need a company at all.
• Leave bulky items out only at the time you were given. Items left early are a fine, not a collection.
• Anything still working is worth offering to a reuse or donation organisation first. It is faster than it sounds and it keeps a usable thing in use.
• Old fridges, TVs, screens and small appliances are electrical waste and have their own free take-back route. They do not belong in a normal bin.
• Bulky collection is free up to five cubic metres a week per household. Above that the council quotes you a price.
• Clothing containers on Lisbon streets are NOT run by the council. Lisbon regulation does not mention textiles at all, the containers belong to charities and companies, so it is worth knowing whose you are using.
• Portugal has no producer-responsibility scheme for textiles yet. Municipalities have had to collect them separately since January 2025, but as the environment agency puts it, textile recycling here "ainda é escassa", still scarce.
• There is no dedicated mattress recycling route in Portugal. A mattress qualifies for free council collection only through the general definition of a bulky item, and the one take-back we found is IKEA at 15 euros, tied to buying a new one.

What it costs in Lisbon

What each option charges, in its own words, with the date we last read it. We publish no price of our own: a number we typed would go stale before the sentence it came from did.

• Amsterdam 7 options·7 free·Checked 20 Aug 2026
• Barcelona 5 options·4 free·Checked 18 Aug 2026
• Berlin 8 options·5 free·Checked 20 Aug 2026