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.

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.

• 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 PET, 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 in 2026. Its implementation requires a 24-month period, as indicated by international consultants and based on the experience of systems already operating in other countries, with the exact date depending on the progress of the process.

O sucesso e a eficiência do Sistema de Depósito e Reembolso (SDR) em Portugal serão determinantes para o cumprimento das metas estabelecidas pela Diretiva (UE) 2019/904 e pelo Regulamento (UE) 2025/40, que impõem objetivos ambiciosos de recolha seletiva, reciclagem e incorporação de material reciclado em embalagens de bebidas descartáveis. Desde o início de 2025, todas as garrafas de plástico de uso único devem conter pelo menos 25% de plástico reciclado, percentagem que aumentará para 30% até 2030 e 65% até 2040. Além disso, o regulamento exige que os Estados-Membros atinjam taxas de recolha seletiva superiores a 90% até 2029, garantindo um fluxo contínuo de materiais recicláveis e reduzindo a dependência de recursos virgens. O SDR em Portugal vai assegurar a recolha seletiva de embalagens de bebidas acima dos 90%, superando os cerca de 40% atualmente recolhidos nos ecopontos. Esta transição vai garantir o cumprimento das exigências europeias, impulsionar a economia circular e promover um modelo de consumo mais sustentável.

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 PET 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.

Contact us for more information.