Lisbon, 18 March 2013 - Sociedade Ponto Verde has laid down a challenge in order to raise the public\'s awareness of the importance of recycling even further. Participants will have to seek inspiration from recycling and develop an original decoration for the three ecobags for selective separation of packaging.

Their image must be based on the separation rules: green for glass, blue for paper and cardboard and yellow for plastic and metal. The competition will last from 18 March to 21 April.

\"We know that the fact that they don\'t have proper containers for separating used packaging at home is the argument that people use most for not sorting waste. We have tried to fill this gap and also involve the public and raise their awareness,\" said Luís Veiga Martins, Managing Director of Sociedade Ponto Verde.

It would be possible to fill more than 1,000,000 ecobags in only one day with the packaging that is sent to Sociedade Ponto Verde for recycling every day.

\"These figures made us decide to hold another “Recicl’arte” competition to help increase the recycling rate even further. Last year we received some very creative entries but this year we wanted to extend the challenge to the entire Portuguese public,\" he added.

All residents in Portugal over the age of 18 can submit their creative entries in the “Initiatives” area of the www.pontoverde.pt website, where they can also view the regulations. The five best entries will be placed on the Sociedade Ponto Verde Facebook page, www.facebook.com/SociedadePontoVerde, and the page\\\'s fans will be the ones to choose the winning image. The winner will receive a FNAC gift voucher worth €2,500. The first and second runners-up will win €1,000 and €500 FNAC gift vouchers.