The Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV), in the year it marks 30 years of activity and reinforces its commitment to Innovation, makes available the new “Guide to Critical Packaging in Sorting and Recycling”. This publication, which is based on the best practices of ecodesign, updates the technical knowledge available about the most critical packaging still on the market and presents suggestions to increase its recyclability, was disclosed in a press release.
According to the same source, this guide identifies, for the first time, the main examples of packaging not covered for the financial contribution bonus, in accordance with the criteria defined by the new legal regime of ecomodulation.
Based on the principles of the circular economy, this mechanism adjusts the amounts paid according to the composition and recyclability of the packaging, encouraging ecodesign practices that reduce environmental impact and promote the efficient use of resources. Thus, packaging designed according to good sustainability practices benefits from a lower financial contribution.
The publication was developed by SPV with contributions from several partners of SIGRE (Integrated System for the Management of Packaging Waste), namely companies such as Bluepapers, Ecoiberia and the multimunicipal systems of the EGF group, and presents concrete examples of applications to avoid because they create constraints in the management processes of used packaging. This is the case of black or opaque glass, dosing devices with a special glass sphere (or metal spring) or integral labels on plastic packaging, which hinder the sorting of waste.
The guide presents itself as another contribution from SPV to support its clients in meeting their respective legal responsibilities and to ensure Portugal reaches the national targets for packaging recycling. Currently, the challenges associated with these waste streams require more ambitious responses, going beyond their end-of-life valorisation.
Alongside the “Guide to Critical Packaging in Sorting and Recycling”, SPV recommends to its clients the ecodesign tool Pack4Sustain, which allows knowing the environmental profile of packaging, increasing its levels of circularity and assessing its eligibility for the financial bonus, among other solutions integrated into the Ponto Verde Lab, its aggregator platform that brings together best practices, publications and tools that promote the design of more circular packaging.
Over these three decades of activity, SPV has continuously invested €19.4M in Innovation, having supported more than 120 studies and R&D projects with the aim of developing solutions capable of modernizing the operation, increasing system efficiency and generating measurable results, contributing to the country meeting the environmental targets, which in 2026 require us to recycle 65% of all packaging placed on the market.
The CEO of Sociedade Ponto Verde, Ana Trigo Morais, states: “We continually invest in Innovation and in raising awareness for the use of ecodesign tools so that the measures adopted by our clients and partners can generate impact across the entire value chain of packaging. This guide is our most recent contribution, since the valorisation of end-of-life packaging depends effectively on the adoption of good practices at the moment of its design.”
“With the entry into force of the Eco-modulation Ordinance, the need to support producers and packagers in adapting their packaging to the new criteria increases. The possibility of a financial incentive constitutes an additional incentive to accelerate this transformation and increase the presence of packaging on the market that is easier to sort and recycle,” concludes the CEO of Sociedade Ponto Verde.
