Braga Uses 17 Glutton Machines to Modernise City Cleaning

Braga is one of Portugal’s most historic and culturally active cities. Known as the “Portuguese Rome”, the city has around 200,000 inhabitants, a major university, increasing tourism and a busy calendar of events.

Popular events such as Roman Braga, São João, White Night, concerts and international sporting events bring large numbers of people into the city. São João alone can attract almost one million visitors over 15 days.

For AGERE, the public company responsible for water, sanitation, waste collection and street cleaning in Braga, this creates a significant operational challenge. Many of the city’s largest events take place at night, which means cleaning teams need to work quickly and effectively so the city is spotless again by the following morning.

M. Morais, Executive Board Director at AGERE, explained that this has pushed the company to rethink its approach to urban cleaning and look for more efficient ways to maintain public spaces.
“It forces us to think differently about cleaning, to find new ways to clean up and to be in the vanguard of what’s being done around the world.”

AGERE discovered Glutton while looking for new equipment to support its wider cleaning strategy. M. Morais had already seen Glutton machines in use in other Portuguese cities, as well as in Belgium, Turkey and Spain.
The machine immediately stood out as a visible and practical alternative to traditional cleaning methods. According to AGERE, the Glutton attracts public attention, with people stopping to look at it and take photographs, while also delivering a more effective way to clean busy urban areas.
Today, Braga has 17 Glutton machines in service.

Each machine covers around five kilometres of area, helping operators cover larger areas more quickly and with fewer interruptions. The Glutton reduces the need for repeated manual sweeping, dustpan use, bucket emptying and frequent stops to unload litter.
For the city’s cleaning teams, this has changed the way they work. Operators are now able to clean more efficiently, with equipment that supports a faster and more practical approach to daily street cleaning.

The Glutton is particularly useful in Braga because many of the city’s streets have narrow pavements and cobblestone surfaces. These areas can make it difficult to reach cigarette ends and small litter using traditional cleaning methods.
With its compact design and strong suction, the Glutton helps operators clean between cobblestones, along narrow streets and across busy public areas more effectively.
Electric operation is also an important part of AGERE’s environmental approach. As a company responsible for key environmental services across the city, AGERE sees electric equipment as an important step towards cleaner, quieter and more sustainable public-space maintenance.
For residents, the Glutton is well received because it operates quietly and creates less nuisance. For tourists, clean streets help create a more welcoming impression of the city. For operators, the machines support pride in their work and help raise the status of urban cleaning.

M. Morais said:
“The Glutton helps in changing people’s mentality: if we have very clean streets, the tendency to produce even less garbage is very big.”