Some people in Portugal are reportedly making up to 40 euros a day by collecting discarded bottles and cans through the country's new refund scheme. CASA says some have abandoned plans to start work because collecting containers brings in money immediately. The organisation has also seen relapses among some people with drug dependency problems. Introduced to increase recycling, the programme has become a flashpoint over poverty and fast cash in Lisbon.
The strongest claim comes from CASA - Centro de Apoio ao Sem Abrigo. Its director general, Nuno Jardim, said the organisation had met people who gave up plans to start work because collecting Volta containers brought in money right away. Making 40 euros in one day requires about 400 returned bottles or cans.
That figure puts the dispute in practical terms: it is a calculated maximum tied to a large number of returned containers, not an independently confirmed typical daily income. Portugal introduced Volta on 10 April. Every bottle or can below three litres carries a 10-cent deposit, which consumers get back by taking the empty container to an authorised return machine. The scheme operates across Portugal, including the Azores and Madeira. In just five months, it collected more than 300 million containers. Reports put the figure between 300 and 305 million and say the annual collection target had already been passed.
Discarded packaging can now bring in a small cash payment. Jardim said this has led some people to search through rubbish bins and containers. He also said CASA had seen cases in which people with drug dependency problems relapsed after gaining access to immediate income.
Lisbon mayor Carlos Moedas has called the development an unprecedented social drama. Speaking to CNN Portugal, he said the system was pushing people to rummage through waste for containers they could exchange for money. CASA's account adds a direct service provider's perspective to the debate and shifts attention beyond recycling rates. In September, Moedas publicly called for the system to be canceled immediately, linking it to social problems and worsening urban cleanliness. The Portugal News reported that a petition opposing Volta had collected more than 37,000 signatures and entered the parliamentary process.
Portugal's environment minister, Maria da Graça Carvalho, has defended Volta and said the system is here to stay. She has said Portugal is the 19th EU country to introduce a comparable deposit-return system. European obligations point toward a 90% separate-collection rate by 2029. The ministry has also said canceling Volta would not automatically mean returning PRR funds, because the scheme was not financed as a separate PRR project.
The dispute matters beyond Portugal. Spain is moving toward similar return-and-refund systems under European rules. The Portuguese experience shows that a measure to recover packaging can also create an income source for people searching through urban waste. Another social impact case shows why environmental policy cannot be judged only by its headline results. Volta is prompting questions about how to assess recycling success alongside social protection before similar systems expand. Euronews and Portuguese media report a clear political divide: the Lisbon mayor wants Volta ended, while the environment ministry insists it continue.
