The increasing production of urban solid waste in the metropolitan area of Lisbon (North), which integrates the regions of Amadora, Lisbon, Loures and Vila Franca de Xira, stressed to the limit the conventional solutions of waste treatment processes. The actual 700.000 tons/year produced would need an equivalent to 10ha/year of controlled waste deposition field, which lead to the unavoidable solution of incineration. The plant actually on test phase will operate very soon at full power. This project stands for the biggest plant of this type in Portugal, and the second biggest in Europe.

In our proposal we describe the strategy implemented to monitor a set of values of air quality, at different locations within the surrounding area, namely SO2, NOx, PTS, CO and O3, before and during test phases, as well as the actually emitted concentrations of CO, O2, HCl, SO2, NOx, TOC, CO2 and HF, coming out of the chimneys. All this information resides in a central database, especially developed and supported for data archive and report’s production. The need to present this information towards public involvement, in a graphical, intuitive and accessible way, led the team to develop a multimedia kiosk.

This contribution will address on the concepts and strategies developed to provide on-the-fly access to available environmental data, resumed technical information, actualised legislation, as well as a discussion forum. The project reports on population feedback about the plant operation and surveys people's principal concerns.