Recycle a plastic bottle may yield 10 cents to Portuguese consumers when the new Deposit and Refund System is implemented, says Renaissance the president of SDR PortugalLeonardo Mathias.
Single-use bottles with a capacity of up to 3 litres could result in a few cents for the consumer. The Deposit and Refund Scheme for bottles is finally being operationalised, six years after Parliament gave the green light.
Not wanting to waste any more time, the entity that will manage the entire system, the SDR Portugal association, sent the required documentation to the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) and the Directorate-General for Economic Activities (DGAE) this week. Many bureaucratic issues remain to be resolved so that, January 1, 2026, the system is operating throughout the country.
SDR Portugal proposes that the reimbursement for each package has a fixed value, regardless of the material or size.
In statements to RenaissanceLeonardo Mathias, president of SDR Portugal, states that, after carrying out market and purchasing power studies, it was concluded that “the value in Portugal could be 10 cents for all materials, without any differentiation”.
This official states that there are currently several models. “There are countries where for a 3-liter bottle, perhaps, they give 15 cents, for a 33-liter bottle, they give 7 cents”, but it was understood that these differences could “introduce a lot of confusion into the system”.
To deposit the bottles will be approximately 2,700 machines installed in various parts of the country, which retailers will have to buy to have in the store.
Once the bottle is in place, the machine returns the deposit amount. The consumer, “if he so wishes, can demand to receive his deposit in cash, because the law requires it”, explains Leonardo Mathias.
The president of SDR Portugal believes that the “overwhelming majority of refunds will often be in digital format or, there may even be commercial retail strategies to offer discounts”.
Source: rr.sapo.pt
