--- title: "500m² 3D printed recycling center erected in Portugal" url: https://www.voxelmatters.com/500m%c2%b2-3d-printed-recycling-center-erected-in-portugal/ date: 2026-06-22 modified: 2026-06-22 lang: en author: "Tess Boissonneault" description: "As Portugal gears up to face Uzbekistan in the 2026 World Cup tomorrow, there is also other excitement on the home front, particularly for fans of 3D printing. Portuguese 3D..." categories: - "3D Printing Processes" - "Construction 3D Printing" - "Sustainability" tags: - "future" image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cobod-portugal-recycling-center-1-640x360.jpg word_count: 536 --- # 500m² 3D printed recycling center erected in Portugal As Portugal gears up to face Uzbekistan in the 2026 World Cup tomorrow, there is also other excitement on the home front, particularly for fans of 3D printing. Portuguese 3D construction firm [Havelar](https://www.voxelmatters.directory/company/havelar/) has completed the build of a 500m² recycling center using large-scale construction 3D printing tech from [COBOD](https://www.voxelmatters.directory/company/cobod/). The public building, which was commissioned by the municipality of Matosinhos, was printed in just nine days and— notably—on budget. The new building stands at the Ecocentro de Perafita in Porto and houses offices for the recycling center staff. It bears the characteristic layered texture of 3D printed buildings—like a cake, as one local journalist points out—as well as lightly curved walls, which are specially designed to provide shade and "enhance solar gains". The material used in the construction was a cement mixture with granulated cork to improve insulation. One of the biggest achievements of this [3D printed construction](https://www.voxelmatters.com/category/construction-3d-printing/) project is the fact that it was built within budget and with a crew of only four people. The automated nature of COBOD's BOD2 printer, a gantry-style machine capable of printing up to three stories, means that fewer people are needed on site to bring buildings to life. This not only brings labor costs down for construction projects, it also addresses the [labor shortage](https://allportugalpress.com/article/693fcbdd-5b55-4212-a8e3-dfdbda9b6ac7) in the country's construction sector. The budget compliance is particularly notable in Portugal, where public sector jobs have been historically plagued by ballooning budgets and cost overruns. [![500m² 3D printed recycling center erected in Portugal](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cobod-portugal-recycling-center-2.jpg)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cobod-portugal-recycling-center-2.jpg) “The main advantage is time," said José Maria Ferreira, Founder and CEO at Havelar. "In construction terms, it is a third: a third of the time, a third of the materials, and a third of the people. Here it is not just about the recycling aspect; it is also that we had a team of only four people to construct a building like this." Adding to the rapid construction time for the recycling center office is the fact that various tasks could be carried out simultaneously. As Bárbara Rangel, Researcher at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, explained: "With 3D construction printing, trades can work in parallel; there is no waiting for walls or slabs to dry before the electrician, tiler, or carpenter comes in." “Havelar delivered a public building on budget with a four-person crew and beat the conventional construction timeline," said Philip Lund-Nielsen, Co-founder & CCO of COBOD International. "Construction 3D printing isn’t an alternative method anymore. For projects like this, it’s clearly the superior option." [![](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cobod-portugal-recycling-center-3.jpg)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cobod-portugal-recycling-center-3.jpg) [![](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cobod-portugal-recycling-center-4.jpg)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cobod-portugal-recycling-center-4.jpg) [![500m² 3D printed recycling center erected in Portugal](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cobod-portugal-recycling-center-5.jpg)](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cobod-portugal-recycling-center-5.jpg) The 3D printed recycling center office is part of Havelar's growing portfolio of 3D printed projects, which also includes 32 housing units in Porto. The company is also slated to build over 50 more residential housing units across the country in 2026. Notably, in 2024 the company was responsible for completing [Portugal's first ever 3D printed house](https://www.voxelmatters.com/havelar-constructs-portugals-first-3d-printed-house/), a two-bedroom, 80m² home whose walls were printed in just 18 hours. COBOD's construction 3D printing technology is among the most widely used in Europe and has been adopted by a number of construction 3D printing specialists, including PERI, which recently completed a multi-family apartment building in Bezannes, France. The [social housing project, called ViliaSprint²](https://www.voxelmatters.com/peri-and-partners-complete-12-unit-3d-printed-social-housing-in-france/), spans 800m² and is Europe's largest 3D printed apartment building.