Portugal is facing multiple problems with MSW management and is attempting to tackle them by passing legislation in order to improve the performance of waste management systems. The country has made substantial progress in the waste domain from the situation that existed at the end of the last century when depositing in open dumps was the dominant (if not exclusive) treatment method. Portugal has an average level of waste generation compared to other EU countries (514 kg/cap in 2010). Waste management is currently dominated by landfilling, but Portugal has invested in many other treatment options including incineration, composting and MBT technology. The drivers behind the developments in MSW include the national legislation, which predominantly transposes the EU Directives, and the National Waste Management Plans (PERSU). There have been two PERSUs in Portugal: PERSU was ratified in 1997 and covered the period until 2006, when PERSU II came into play which targeted the period 2007-2016. PERSU I set both quantitative and qualitative targets for Portugal’s MSW management system following in parallel the developments at the EU level. The main objective of the PERSU I was to eliminate open dumps and divert the waste, according to specific quantified targets, to recycling, incineration and composting. This has been a difficult task, as in 2001, more than 340 dumps were yet to be closed (Magrinho et al., 2006). Despite the plan’s success in eradicating the open dumps, most of the targets set were not achieved (Ribeiro et al., 2011).
Therefore, by taking into account the need to modernise the MSW system, PERSU II was ratified in 2006. PERSU II aims to eliminate inefficiencies observed in the implementation of the previous plan: Adapt EU legislation to Portuguese reality;
Rationalize the costs;
Encourage participation of all stakeholders, based on input from all of them;
Support incineration with energy recovery and MBT as solutions to MSW treatment;
Introduce separate collection of organic wastes and other measures to divert them from landfills, and
Maximize by-products utilization. The quantitative targets included in PERSU II are adopted from EU legislation. The legal framework governing waste management has been consolidated over the last few years, with systems for managing certain specific flows, and placing the onus on producers to pursue targets for prevention, separate collection, recycling and other forms of recovery . Besides the general frameworks such as PERSU, there are various other decrees regulating specific waste streams or treatment options .
Municipalities which are responsible for collection of (normally only mixed) waste;
SGRSU which are entities dealing with waste treatment;
SPV which is the Portuguese Green Dot System responsible for recycling
packaging wastes
