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

For the first time, with SDR Portugal, industry and retail are joining efforts to achieve what they consider a national objective: increasing the collection and recycling of packaging, reducing its environmental impact and contributing to the fulfilment of the targets to which Portugal is committed. At the same time, they create the conditions to stimulate technological innovation, strengthen the competitiveness of Portuguese companies and boost the national economy.

SDR Portugal manages an efficient system that reduces the complexity of registering the packaging covered, simplifying the operations of producers and retailers, with more transparent costs and processes. In addition, it helps reduce regulatory costs for the Government, ensuring the fair application of fees. This new system provides greater clarity for consumers, contributing to higher recycling rates and to meeting 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 under 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 (DRS), identified by the volta brand, came into operation on April 10, 2026.

The success and efficiency of the Deposit Return System (DRS) in Portugal are key to meeting the targets set out in Directive (EU) 2019/904 and Regulation (EU) 2025/40, which establish ambitious goals for separate collection, recycling and the incorporation of recycled material in single-use beverage packaging.

Currently, single-use plastic bottles must contain at least 25% recycled plastic, a share that will increase to 30% by 2030 and 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 reliance on virgin resources.

In Portugal, the DRS aims to ensure separate collection of beverage packaging above 90%, surpassing the approximately 40% previously collected through recycling bins. This transition will help ensure compliance with European requirements, boost the circular economy and promote a more sustainable consumption model.

The financing of the DRS is ensured through revenues from the sale of collected packaging materials, financial contributions paid by Producers, and the value of unclaimed deposits. Investment in reverse vending machines (volta machines) is the responsibility of retailers or other entities wishing to establish Collection Points, with reimbursement provided through the payment of a handling fee. Investment in the DRS is carried out by the Managing Entity (EG), through investment programmes and financing. Additional investments may also be made by service providers, subject to compliance with a set of specifications and technical-quality requirements (security, fraud prevention, material quality – clean waste), defined by the EG and oriented towards competitiveness.

The DRS, identified by the volta brand, covers single-use beverage containers under 3 litres, namely plastic, aluminium and steel bottles and cans, in accordance with the published legislation and the terms of the licence granted to SDR Portugal.

Packaging that is not included in the Deposit Return System (DRS), as well as packaging that, although covered by the system, does not meet the acceptance conditions, due to being damaged or deformed, not completely empty, lacking a legible barcode, or not displaying the SDR Portugal symbol clearly, must be placed in the appropriate recycling container according to the material. Collection is ensured by the Sistema Integrado de Gestão de Resíduos de Embalagens (SIGRE).

In the case of packaging included in the DRS that does not comply with the return requirements, the deposit value is considered forfeited.

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