Waste

Recycling - specific waste streams

The "Recycling - specific waste streams" fact sheet compares the annual recycling rates with the national targets set for the various specific waste streams.
Description: 

One of the objectives of the integrated environmental policy is the attribution of total or partial, physical and/or financial responsibility to the producer for the environmental impacts associated with the corresponding products, namely those resulting from the production process and the subsequent use of the product, and those associated with product management when it reaches the end of its life cycle.

The life cycle of a given material usually comprises five phases: Raw material extraction (resource), production (product), trading, consumption and management as waste.

In practice, producer accountability - which translates into the obligation to take back and recover materials and meet quantified reuse/recycling targets - encourages him to change the design of his product. Such strategy normally has an impact on the eco-efficiency of products (use of smaller quantities of raw material or use of recyclable/recycled materials, among others), as well as in its eco design (easier to dismantle or recycle, lower hazardous substance content, among others).

Furthermore, producer accountability has the advantage of triggering a chain reaction, throughout the production-trade-consumption-post-consumption cycle, in which every player passes on some of his responsibility to the next player in the chain. As an essential part of this system, there are waste management entities, which allow these different players to work together in the pursuit of common objectives.

The producer's responsibility can be assumed individually or through the establishment of an integrated system. As an essential part of this latter system, specific waste stream management entities were created, allowing for very specific interfaces between the different players in the product life cycle (product producer, product retailer/distributor, waste producer, waste management operator) for the pursuit of common objectives. In this case, the producer of the product transfers responsibility for managing the specific waste stream to these management entities, through the payment of an annual financial amount (ecovalor).

These are the basic reasons why, in recent years, both at national and EU level, we have witnessed the emergence of integrated waste management systems, which, in our country, are already in place for the following specific waste streams: packaging and packaging waste, used oils, used tyres, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries and accumulators and end-of-life vehicles.

"Recycling" means any recovery operation, including the reprocessing of organic materials, by which the constituent materials of waste are again transformed in products, materials or substances for their original purpose or for other purposes, but which do not include energy recovery or reprocessing of materials that should be used as fuel or in filling operations.

This fact sheet concerns mainland Portugal and the Autonomous Regions of Madeira and Azores and shall be updated on an annual basis.

Objectives and targets: 

Increase the recycling rates obtained annually for each stream, in order to meet the national targets set forth in the specific legislation and identified below.

As can be seen in the following table, the recycling targets to be reached and their calculation methods vary from stream to stream, due to the specificities associated with each one, and the results obtained are not comparable between streams.

 

Specific waste stream Deadline Benchmark and recycling target
Packaging and Packaging Waste 31 December 2011 55% of packaging waste production
Used lubricant oils 31 December 2011 75% of collected used lubricant oils
Used tyres January 2007 69% of used tyres collected and not rethreaded
Electrical and Electronic Equipment Waste 31 December 2006 Categories 1 and 10: 75% of the average weight per device collected
Categories 3 and 4: 65% of the average weight per device collected
Categories 2, 5, 6, 7 and 9: 50% (and 80% for gas discharge lamps) of the average weight per appliance collected
15 August 2015 Categories 1 (large household appliances) and 10 (automatic dispensers): 80% of the weight of WEEE fractions that enter the recycling/preparation for reuse facilities, over the weight of WEEE collected
Categories 3 (computer and telecommunications equipment) and 4 (consumer equipment and photovoltaic panels): 70% of the weight of WEEE fractions that enter the recycling/preparation for reuse facilities, over the weight of WEEE collected
Categories 2 (small electrical appliances), 5 (lighting equipment), 6 (electrical and electronic tools (except for large-sized fixed industrial tools)), 7 (toys and sports and leisure equipment), 8 (medical devices (except for all products implanted and infected)) and 9 (monitoring and control instruments): 55% (and 80% of gas discharge lamps) of the weight of WEEE fractions that enter the recycling/preparation for reuse facilities, over the weight of WEEE collected
End-of-Life Vehicles 1 January 2006 Reuse and recycling of all ELVs at least 80% in weight, on average, per vehicle and per year
1 January 2015 Reuse and recycling of all ELVs at least 85% in weight, on average, per vehicle and per year
Construction and Demolition Waste 2020 Reuse, recycling and recovery, including filling operations (excluding natural materials outlined in category 17 05 04 of the waste list) of at least 70%, of non-hazardous CDW, in weight and per year

 

Waste streams from Batteries and Accumulators and Used Food Oils have no established recycling goal. However, there is a target for the collection of waste streams from Batteries and Accumulators, defined in the Community directive and national legislation, whose value is 45%, to be fulfilled until 31 December 2015, remaining unchanged until the present.

Progress analysis:

Recycling rates obtained in specific waste streams

Notas: (1) The recycling rate for the ELV flow includes re-use. The 2017 value is estimated. (2) In CDW, the recycling rate includes preparation for re-use and other forms of material recovery, including filling operations.
Source: APA, 2018

In the packaging and packaging waste stream, the target was reached with a recycling rate of 55% in 2017.

In used lubricant oils, the recycling rate was 96% in 2017, exceeding the national target set. The performance of this stream's Management Entity, Sogilub, also allowed for compliance with the targets set in the corresponding licence.

Although there are targets set out in national legislation for used tires, the assessment considered the targets set out in the license of the managing entity of the integrated system of used tires, since the license of the existing management entity, already in force, considers the new definitions of the Waste Framework Directive. Thus, with regard to the flow of used tires, the performance of the management entity ensured (79% in 2017), in the period under review, compliance with the annual recycling target.

As for end-of-life vehicles, the national reuse/recycling rates have made it possible to comply with the national and EU target set for 2006. However, the most demanding 2015 reuse/recycling target (85%) was not met, staying 1% down, despite the performance of the network operators of the management entity Valorcar. 

The Construction and Demolition Waste Stream doesn’t have a Management Entity, so the data reported is extracted annually from the MIRR forms, containing information from the waste producers and management operators. The data obtained in the Construction and Demolition Waste Stream for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 already ensures compliance with the 2020 target.

For waste streams of batteries and accumulators there is no associated recycling rate but there is a collection rate which, in 2017, was 39.5%.

Reuse/recycling rates obtained in the WEEE stream per EEE category

Source: APA, 2019

In terms of reuse/recycling objectives for components, materials and substances contained in electrical and electronic equipment waste, between 2011 and 2017, there's an overall compliance in all categories.

There has been a slight reduction in the recycling rates achieved for waste electrical and electronic equipment and have no influence on the achievement of Community targets.

Last update: 
Tuesday, 2 July, 2019
More information at: 

Portuguese Environment Agency – www.apambiente.pt/index.php?ref=16&subref=84&sub2ref=197