Portugal's bottle deposit scheme returns 400 million packages

Portugal's Volta deposit-return scheme for single-use drink containers has collected over 400 million packages since launching on 10 April, according to operator SDR Portugal. The organisation says the figure shows growing public participation and confirms the network of 3,000 collection points is working. SDR Portugal has also launched an online tracking tool and installed eight of a planned 50 kiosks, designed to handle large volumes of returns, in municipalities including Cascais, Almada and Funchal. The remaining 42 kiosks await municipal authorisation. The scheme aims to recover 90% of packages by the end of 2029.