Waste management

The treatment of waste arising from professional activities is governed by general waste legislation, which implements the principles of self-sufficiency and proximity, responsibility for management, protection of human health and the environment, waste hierarchy, citizen responsibility, waste management regulation and equivalence. 

Therefore:

• responsibility for waste management, including waste costs, lies with the original producer of the waste
• the original producer of the waste or the holder must ensure that the waste is treated and to do so may use (a) a dealer; (b) a licensed entity carrying out waste collection or treatment operations; or (c) a licensed entity responsible for systems managing specific waste streams
• entrepreneurs who collect or transport waste must deliver it to licensed waste treatment operators.

Further information on waste management can be found on the website of the Portuguese Environment Agency (Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente, APA).

Waste treatment operators are allowed to carry out certain waste treatment operations, depending on the types of waste and their capabilities. Such licensing also assesses the conditions of the installations and the respective operation. 

Depending on the type of treatment operator or treatment operation installed and other characteristics, including market characteristics, the operator may define ‘technical specifications’ to receive waste.

Waste producers, dealers and brokers, waste treatment operators and transporters are required to register, free of charge, on the SILIAMB platform (Sistema Integrado de Licenciamento do Ambiente – Integrated Environmental Licensing System) to access SIRER (Sistema Integrado de Registo Eletrónico de Resíduos), (Regulation on the functioning of the integrated electronic waste registration system), and MIRR (Mapa Integrado de Registo de Resíduos – Integrated waste registration map).

For the transport of waste, the e-OHR (electronic waste monitoring document) is mandatory for all transport of waste on national territory, and the transport document should be completed on SIRER. Accordingly, producers, transporters and treatment operators involved in the transport process have to be registered on the platform. e-GAR is not a substitute for the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) transport document and the AT should therefore be contacted in order to determine which types of waste transport should be accompanied by this document.

Consult the conditions required for the transport of waste in greater detail.

The SILOGR platform (Information system for the licensing of waste management operations) makes it easier for citizens and waste producers to access the relevant information on entities performing waste management operations, carrying out the correct channelling of waste and its proper treatment. It is possible to search for companies qualified to treat each type of waste, i.e. according to their classification by the European Waste List (EWL).

The prices charged for the waste management service depend on the type of waste, the contamination of the waste, the collection site, the quantities involved and the waste treatment operator. 

Find out what rates are applied in each municipality.

The supervision of waste management operations is the responsibility of regional waste authorities (Autoridades Regionais de Resíduos, ARR), the Inspectorate-General for the environment and spatial planning (Inspeção-Geral do Ambiente e do Ordenamento do Território), the municipalities and the police authorities.

Find out about environmental administrative offences provided for under Portuguese law.