Portugal's bottle deposit scheme surpasses 305 million returns
Portugal's deposit-return scheme, volta, has collected more than 305 million drink containers since launching on 10 April, according to operator SDR Portugal. Returns tripled in the last two months alone, after passing 100 million in July. Around 5 million containers are now returned daily, roughly 57 per second, through a network of over 3,000 automated collection points plus manual points and dedicated kiosks. Seven of twelve planned kiosks are already running, with five more being installed, as SDR Portugal aims to reach 50 nationwide and keep expanding capacity for returning packaging to the circular economy.
Groups demand 5% of packaging fees fund reuse systems
Eight organisations, including Circular Economy Portugal and ZERO, have asked Portugal's environment and economy ministries to legally require that at least 5% of extended producer responsibility (EPR) contributions from packaging be allocated to reuse infrastructure. The proposal responds to EU rules requiring reuse targets from 2030, covering food service, beverage containers and e-commerce packaging. The groups cite France, where a similar mechanism mobilised about €167.9 million between 2023 and 2025, supporting some 300 million reused packages in 2025. They also offered to arrange a meeting between the government and France's Citeo agency.
EU textile recycling rules bankrupt collectors before funding arrives
Since January 2025, EU law has required separate textile collection, but the funding mechanism to sustain it, through extended producer responsibility, only becomes operational in 2028. Major operators such as Soex, Texaid, Le Relais and Humana have already gone insolvent or scaled back sharply, even as collected volumes rose. Meanwhile, textiles remain legally classified as waste, with no EU end-of-waste criteria published, discouraging industrial buyers. Portugal has not yet transposed the directive, has no licensed managing entity, and coverage remains patchy, leaving a sector of nearly 12,000 mostly small firms uncertain about the rules and costs it faces before 2028.
NOVA University coordinates €7m EU circular manufacturing project
NOVA University Lisbon's UNINOVA-CTS centre is coordinating Remanufacturing-X, a Horizon Europe project worth roughly €7 million to help European industry shift towards digital circular manufacturing. Running for 36 months, it will use AI, digital twins and digital product passports across five sectors: textiles, food, industrial machinery, maritime and batteries. The launch takes place on 14 September in Vila Verde, with Portugal's Agriculture Minister, the local mayor and a European Commission representative attending. One key pilot is at the LETRA brewery, which will demonstrate turning brewing by-products into new certified food and beer products using digital tracking technology.
Portugal competition watchdog clears Pure Planet's purchase of RDUZ
Portugal's Competition Authority (AdC) has approved the joint acquisition of waste management firm RDUZ – Gestão Global de Resíduos by Jerónimo Martins, Visabeira Global and Black and Blue II – Ambiente e Energia, via their joint vehicle Pure Planet. The regulator found the deal would not significantly hinder effective competition in the national market. RDUZ handles construction, demolition, hazardous and non-hazardous waste, as well as collection, transport and end-of-life equipment dismantling. Pure Planet, based in Portugal, was created specifically to serve as a vehicle for joint investments by the three groups.
