FAQs

Formally established on 1 September 2021, SDR Portugal – Associação de Embaladores is a non-profit organisation and the licensed Managing Entity (EG) for the implementation and management of the Deposit Return System (DRS) for single-use beverage containers in Portugal. With the aim of ensuring the collection, transport, counting, sorting, and recycling of these containers across the entire national territory, SDR Portugal adopts an efficient and effective model, guaranteeing fair treatment for producers, importers, retailers, and other collection points. In addition to promoting consumer satisfaction and convenience, it contributes to high recovery and recycling rates, in line with the principles of the circular economy.

The Deposit and Return System (DRS) is a packaging recovery system for recycling in which consumers pay a deposit when purchasing non-refillable beverages. This amount, legally set at €0.10 (ten cents) per packaging item, is refunded when the packaging is returned at a collection point, thereby encouraging recycling.

• Accelerating compliance with environmental targets by promoting material recovery and optimised use of resources, in coordination with existing waste management systems
• Ensuring complementarity between different waste management systems (SIGRE, DRS, and Reuse) to achieve a more integrated and efficient approach
• Implementing a more efficient and technologically advanced model, capable of improving selective collection and modernising packaging management in under two years
• Encouraging active consumer participation through deposit returns
• Improving efficiency in the management of recyclable materials by ensuring more rigorous sorting and greater reuse of recovered resources
• Reducing improper waste disposal in public spaces, contributing to cleaner cities and lowering operational costs for municipalities
• Reducing the amount of single-use plastic, steel, and aluminium beverage containers sent to landfill
• Strengthening the capacity of national recyclers, reducing external dependency and reinforcing the circular economy

SDR Portugal’s goal is to operate an efficient and effective recycling system that ensures consumer satisfaction and achieves high recovery and recycling rates, in line with the principles of the circular economy. This model will contribute to a real shift in citizen-consumer behaviour by encouraging greater participation in waste separation and increasing both the quantity and quality of recyclable materials.

For the first time, with SDR Portugal, industry and retail will join forces to achieve what they believe to be a national goal: increasing the collection and recycling of packaging, reducing its environmental impact, and contributing to the targets that Portugal is committed to. At the same time, they will create conditions to foster technological innovation, strengthen the competitiveness of Portuguese companies, and boost the national economy. SDR Portugal aims to manage an efficient system that will reduce the complexity of the packaging registration process, simplifying operations for producers and retailers with more transparent costs and processes. Additionally, it will lower regulatory costs for the Portuguese Government while ensuring a fair application of fees. This new system will provide greater clarity for consumers, contributing to higher recycling rates and compliance with European targets, while also helping to reduce littering and marine waste.

SDR Portugal brings together, among its shareholders, the vast majority of the Portuguese beverage industry and retail sector, representing a significant share of the economic agents that produce, distribute, and market single-use beverage containers up to 3 litres in Portugal. These agents are the main stakeholders in ensuring the effective and efficient operation of the Association. In addition, they hold the knowledge, technical resources, capacity to develop the system, proximity to the citizen-consumer, and the ability to use their own resources to raise awareness, inform, and educate in order to foster the behavioural change that is needed. There is a shared sense of responsibility that these entities, the Producers (Packers), acknowledge and feel compelled to act upon, since they are accountable for the costs of packaging waste management under the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

The Deposit Return System will come into operation on April 10, 2026.

The success and efficiency of the Deposit Return System (DRS) in Portugal will be decisive for meeting the targets established by Directive (EU) 2019/904 and Regulation (EU) 2025/40, which set ambitious objectives for separate collection, recycling and the incorporation of recycled content in single-use beverage packaging. Since the beginning of 2025, all single-use plastic bottles must contain at least 25% recycled plastic, a share that will increase to 30% by 2030 and to 65% by 2040. In addition, the Regulation requires Member States to achieve separate collection rates above 90% by 2029, ensuring a continuous flow of recyclable materials and reducing dependence on virgin resources. The DRS in Portugal will ensure the separate collection of beverage packaging above 90%, significantly exceeding the approximately 40% currently collected through bring banks. This transition will secure compliance with European requirements, boost the circular economy and promote a more sustainable consumption model.

The funding of the DRS will be secured through revenues from the sale of collected packaging materials, financial contributions from Producers, and unclaimed deposit amounts. The investment in RVM machines will be the responsibility of retailers or other entities wishing to establish collection points, with reimbursement ensured through the payment of a handling fee. The investment in the DRS will be made by the Managing Entity (EG) of the DRS, using investment programmes and loans. Future investments may also be made by potential service providers, subject to technical and qualitative requirements (such as security, fraud prevention, material quality – clean waste) defined by the EG and standing out in terms of competitiveness.

The system will cover single-use beverage containers up to 3 litres made of plastic, aluminium, and steel, in accordance with the published legislation and the terms of the licence granted to SDR Portugal.

All containers that, for duly justified exceptional reasons of a technical or operational nature, cannot be included in the DRS due to incompatible characteristics, must be directed to the SIGRE and will be subject to a financial contribution plus an additional fee to ensure that no commercial advantage is gained from this option.

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