Sixteen municipalities in the country do not have packaging collection points according to the Volta system platform, but the Deposit and Return System (SDR) contends that there are only five councils without machines and that the site is not up to date.
The Volta system, in operation since April 10, states on its website that it has more than 3,000 points nationwide, allowing consumers to reclaim the deposit value of €0.10 per packaging paid at the purchase of single-use bottles and cans, made of plastic, metal and aluminum, and under three liters.
In a search for the collection points indicated by the system, this Thursday, among the 308 municipalities in the country, 16 councils do not have indication of the points and kiosks that “allow the packaging to be delivered easily and guarantee the return of the deposit value.”
The municipalities without any Volta point on the site are Alcoutim (in the Faro district), Alvito and Barrancos (Beja), Fronteira and Marvão (Portalegre), Mora and Mourão (Évora), Sardoal (Santarém), Penedono and Sernancelhe (Viseu), Oleiros (Castelo Branco), Ribeira de Pena and Santa Marta de Penaguião (Vila Real), Vimioso (Bragança), Lajes do Pico and Corvo (Azores).
Questioned about the absence of the system in the 16 municipalities, the SDR Portugal told Lusa that, in total, the entity has “303 municipalities with Volta points registered” and that the municipalities without registration are Alcoutim, Mora, Ribeira de Pena, Santa Marta de Penaguião and Corvo.
According to the same official source, all other municipalities that do not appear on the platform “have registered collection points” and are not on the site because it has not yet been updated.
“We cannot update every day, at all hours, but it is being updated,” added the SDR source.
However, in the municipality of Oleiros, which the SDR says already has a collection point but does not yet appear on the site, the mayor, Miguel Marques (PSD), reiterated to Lusa that there is no Volta equipment in the municipality.
In light of this scenario, the population of Oleiros has to travel 50 kilometers to Sertã (25 kilometers each way) to deposit their plastic bottles and cans at a Volta collection point.
According to the mayor, residents feel disadvantaged by the system.
“People are voicing their displeasure and sharing that criticism, even on social networks, but when we try to understand how the system works, it seems it must be located next to a hypermarket, of medium or large size,” the mayor said.
Although the change in the situation does not depend on the municipality, Miguel Marques says that he is “available to be part of the solution,” because “the population of Oleiros must have the same access and the same rights as the rest of the population, not being able to pay an extra 10 cents per packaging, but then to reclaim that deposit have to spend more on fuel.”
In the Mourão municipality, in the Évora district, also without any Volta collection point, the mayor, João Fortes (PSD/CDS-PP), told the Lusa agency that he had never been contacted about installing one of these kiosks.
“Mourão has no collection kiosk for this new system and there has never been any outreach for its placement, neither with the council nor with the commercial operators,” he said.
The population, according to the mayor, has also “not yet indicated any interest” in a Volta collection point, with the closest one located in the neighboring municipality of Reguengos de Monsaraz.
“For now, there has been no public pressure in that direction. And no contact from those who manage the network for the creation of a collection point here,” he added, saying that they will “await that contact.”
In Mora, the mayor, Luís Simão (CDU), advanced that the machine “is not yet functioning,” but “has already been purchased” and “is already at the site,” in the commercial area that will collect the packaging, assuming “it will be up and running very soon.”
However, in the absence of the machine, the mayor explained, Mora residents had to travel to neighboring councils, which are “around 35 to 40 kilometers away,” and “there were already people asking why there is one everywhere and Mora still did not have one.”
“If people are paying for a package, it is natural that they be reimbursed for it. The system was set up this way, so it does not make sense that any citizen who pays the amount is not reimbursed, just because they are in a small municipality,” he said.
This, in a municipality that, as noted by Luís Simão, is part of the Intermunicipal System for the Valorization and Treatment of Urban Waste of the Évora District, and at the district level is among the “municipalities with the highest per-capita collection rates in terms of recycling.”
