Portugal is preparing for a new phase in the management of beverage packaging waste, at a time when the country remains far from several recycling targets and when the fight against waste has gained new prominence on International Zero Waste Day, celebrated this Monday.
The big news arrives on April 10th, the date on which the new Deposit and Refund System, known as , comes into operation, created by the government to encourage the return of used bottles and cans and reinforce the circular economy in Portugal.
10 cent deposit starts in April
The model is simple: for each single-use beverage package made of plastic, aluminum or steel, with a capacity of up to three liters, the consumer will pay 10 cents more, an amount they can recover when returning the package to a participating collection point.
However, there is an important detail: between April 10th and August 9th, the system only applies to packaging that already bears the Volta symbol. Only from August 10th will all single-use beverage packaging placed on the market that fall under this regime be covered.
The Government presented Volta as a structural reform of environmental policy, with the goal of achieving 90% collection of these packaging by 2029, in line with European objectives. The trajectory indicated for Portugal foresees rates between 40% and 70% in the first year, rising to 80% in 2027.
Returns can be made using machines installed in supermarkets or at manual collection points. Reimbursement can come in the form of a coupon, discount on purchases, digital credit or even a donation to institutions, as long as the packaging has the system symbol and the readable barcode.
Zero Waste draws attention to food waste
The system’s entry into force coincides with International Zero Waste Day, created by the United Nations General Assembly in 2022. This year, the event once again serves as a warning about food waste and the poor recovery of waste that still ends up in unsorted trash.
A recent study released by the environmental association ZERO, based on the characterization of undifferentiated waste in the municipality of Ourique, concluded that a community with just 300 inhabitants can waste up to 12 tons of food per year in homes. Extrapolating the data, a city with 100 thousand inhabitants could generate around 3760 tons of wasted food.
ZERO considers that Portugal continues to fall far short of what is desirable in recycling and recalls that thousands of tons of recyclable materials continue to be burned or sent to landfills, instead of returning to the economy as raw material. The association understands that the new system can produce results far above those obtained by traditional selective collection models.
For the organization, one of the advantages of SDR is that it makes citizens look at packaging as a resource with value and not just as waste. This change in perception could, according to the association, have a positive effect on other waste separation practices.
Glass is left out at this stage
Despite the Volta starting, the glass remains out of the system in this first stage. This exclusion contrasts with the wording of Law No. 52/2021, which provides for a deposit system for non-reusable beverage packaging made of plastic, glass, ferrous metals and aluminum.
The absence of glass has been the target of criticism from environmentalists, who defend its inclusion because it is a material with strong potential for continuous recycling. Even so, the model that starts in April is limited, for now, to plastic, aluminum and steel packaging.
Industry sees decisive step
The agri-food industry also received the measure with optimism. The Federation of Portuguese Agrifood Industries (considers that the adoption of the system represents a decisive step towards a more circular economy and highlights the work already carried out by sectoral associations and distribution in preparing the packaging return model.
The federation also highlights that the sector has invested in innovation, reducing the use of virgin raw materials, ecodesign and more sustainable alternatives, seeing Volta as an opportunity to consolidate this path and adjust the system based on the experience of the first months of operation.
In the coming months, attention will focus on consumer adoption, coverage of collection points and the system’s ability to translate the promise of greater recycling into numbers. For now, the date to remember is clear: April 10, 2026 marks the start of Volta, but the full application only arrives on August 10.
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