Within the scope of the Pre Defined Project 1, “Strengthened framework for the management of plastic packing including a deposit-refund system for plastic bottles”, a technical visit was made between 22 and 24 January 2020, by a Portuguese delegation to Norway to deepen the knowledge about the system for depositing plastic and beverage packages and aluminum in this country, an international reference due to the high collection and recycling rates.

The Portuguese delegation was composed by representatives from the Portuguese Environment Agency, IP, the General Directorate of Economic Activities, the Secretary General for Environment and the Cabinet of the Secretary of State for the Environment, having been received and accompanied throughout the visit by representatives of Innovation Norway (IN), the Donor Programme Partner.

The delegation met with several entities responsible for regulating and implementing the deposit system, including the Ministry of Environment and Climate, the Norwegian Environment Agency (NEA), Infinitum - Centralized system operator; TOMRA - Manufacturer of automatic packaging collection machines, and the Norwegian Packaging Association.

It was possible to exchange ideas and experiences with all entities, namely about systems already implemented in other EU countries, which had advice from Norway, as well as visits to the operation of several models of automatic collection machines of the brand TOMRA.