On this matter, the new reference instrument for non-municipal waste policy in Portugal, the Strategic Plan for Non-Urban Waste (PERNU), is a very ambitious and challenging plan, in the view of Rodrigo Gonçalves, Director of the Waste Department of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA). This plan is based primarily on "the prevention of waste production in terms of both quantity and hazardousness", and seeks to "promote efficiency in the use of resources and decrease negative impacts through integrated and sustainable waste management," he said.

In the legal field, Rodrigo Gonçalves highlighted the importance of the existence, in the case of end-of-life products, of a licensed Waste Management Operator able to proceed with the recycling of the material, an operator that can be the company responsible for the production of the final product, if it meets the several necessary legal criteria. For this, the APA provides a list of licensed operators on its website.

Finally, still in this context, on the danger of the Greenwashing technique, the Director of the Waste Department of the APA defends the clear regulation and verification of the conformity of the processes, to ensure the veracity of the sustainable acts acclaimed by the various commercial entities present in the market.

Watch this tertulia moment starting at minute 32:14, here.

Note: Webinar only in Portuguese and without translation to English.