The selective collection of containers in Portugal increased by 3% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to the same period last year, but in the case of glass there was a decrease of 2%, it was announced this Monday.
According to data from the Integrated Packaging Waste Management System (SIGRE) released in a statement by Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV), Portugal “will only meet the objective [estabelecida] if each Portuguese person recycled two more glass bottles per month“.
SPV celebrates that the Portuguese continue to recycle “increasingly”, having collected 108,368 tons of packaging at national ecopoints in the first quarter of 2023, which represents a 3% increasecompared to the same period in 2022.
“The country thus continues to meet its packaging recycling objectives, with the exception of glass, which deserves special attention,” concludes the institution, which organizes and manages the recovery and recovery of packaging waste, implementing SIGRE.
According to available data, glass recycling in the same period was about one tonne less than in the first quarter of 2022, “reversing a growth trend observed in the last two years.”
The current national recycling rate for this material is 56% and the goal is to reach 75%until 2025, being “fundamental a greater mobilization of all the Portuguese”.
“It is, therefore, essential to summon everyone, when the country has new goals to meet, not only in packaging but in other materials that are part of our day-to-day life as consumers,” says the executive president (CEO) of the SPV , Ana Trigo Morais, cited in the statement.
The company manager encourages “all Portuguese to recycle more packagingspecifically glass”, an area in which “the challenge is greater”, but insists that other materials such as aluminium, paper/cardboard or plastic should not be forgotten.
“For this to happen, we need more separation and also best level of collection service municipality,” he concludes.
SIGRE performance data, in the first quarter of 2023, also reveals that 36,620 tons of paper/cardboard (+9%) and 19,589 tons of plastic (+2%) were sent for recycling.
According to SPV, the most significant growth has occurred in cardboard containers for liquid foods (ECAL), whose recycling amounts to 2,161 tons (+10%).
“These data reveal an increase in recycling in schools, where there is a more significant volume of beverage containers, and that these are being deposited correctly in the yellow ecopoint, as a result of educational actions promoted by Sociedade Ponto Verde with students and teachers. ”, considers a private non-profit institution, which is responsible for sending packaging waste resulting from mass consumption for recycling and recovery.
SPV is the market leader and currently serves 8,200 clients including micro, small, medium and large companies, according to the statement.
Source: Observadora
