Sociedade Ponto Verde (SPV) sent 5% more packaging waste for recycling from drop-off containers and door-to-door collection in 2015. All the materials recovered from selective collection grew and totalled 320,629 tonnes. Glass increased by 5% to 160,813 tonnes, plastic 7% to 54,536 tonnes, paper and cardboard 2.5% to 91,623 tonnes, metal 8% to 9,108 tonnes and wood 27% to 4,537 tonnes.
These results helped to increase total waste taken back for recycling from urban areas (which includes materials from selective collection) so that 442,000 tonnes of packaging were sent for recycling (from homes, small businesses and the Horeca channel (hotels, restaurants and cafés)). This is 6 percent more than in 2014 and is the highest amount of packaging ever recovered from household flows.
"In the last 20 years, Sociedade Ponto Verde, as the company in Portugal responsible for managing packaging waste, has been the driving force behind the growth in selective collection, thereby making optimal use of the infrastructure of drop-off containers and door-to-door collection, and raising the public's environmental awareness. These results would not have been possible without our customers' trust or the commitment of local authorities, municipal systems, the recycling industry, the public and all the Green Dot System partners," said Luís Veiga Martins, Managing Director of Sociedade Ponto Verde.
This figure is the fruit of the awareness campaigns conducted nationwide by Sociedade Ponto Verde and at local level by municipalities over almost 20 years of work. Thanks to them seven out of 10 homes in Portugal now separate used packaging. Sociedade Ponto Verde believes that recycling of packaging waste will continue to increase in Portugal in upcoming years, thereby contributing to a better outlook for future generations.
Things that can be made with the materials recycled from household flows in 2015:
| 2015 (tonnes) | Items that can be made in one year | |
| Glass | 182.014 | 360 million glass bottles or 1 bottle 216 metres all |
| Paper and cardboard | 111.825 | Enough paper to wrap up more than 4.044 Belém Towers |
| Plastic | 115.701 | Enough plastic to make 700 million t-shirts |
| Metal | 27.922 | Enough metal to make around 58.000 cars or more than 2,2 million bikes |
| Wood | 4.761 | 166.000 trees saved |
| Total | 442.223 | A weith equivalent to more than 101.500 elephants that did not have to go to landfills |
NB: figures in tonnes
In the total of the two flows (household and trade & industry), Sociedade Ponto Verde sent 729,000 tonnes of packaging for recycling, which was in line with the result from 2014.
Sociedade Ponto Verde has been with the Portuguese public since recycling began in Portugal. Since it was set up in 1996, Sociedade Ponto Verde has sent more than 6.8 million tonnes of packaging waste for recycling, three times the weight of the Vasco da Gama Bridge. More than 50 million euros were invested in publicity and awareness campaigns and 650 million in selective collection in this period.
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