Volta: the deposit on bottles and cans, and how to get your 10 cents back

Where the extra cents on your receipt come from

Officially it is the Sistema de Depósito e Reembolso (SDR, the deposit return scheme for single-use drinks containers), and Volta is its brand name and the very symbol on the packaging. It has been running since 10 April 2026. In the law, on the receipt and on the price label, the deposit itself is called valor de depósito.

The deposit is €0.10 per container, whatever its size or material: a 1.5-litre bottle of water and a small can of cola carry the same ten cents. The figure was set by Despacho n.º 432/2026 of 15 January 2026, an order from two secretaries of state, for the economy and for the environment, under article 30.º-E of Decreto-Lei n.º 152-D/2017, the body of rules on waste. The same order says plainly that the deposit is not taxed and no VAT is charged on it.

The deposit has to be shown separately, both on the bill and wherever the price of the product is displayed. So on the receipt it is a line of its own, not ‘more expensive water’, and on the shelf the price of the drink and the deposit are shown apart. If the deposit appears neither on the receipt nor on the price label, yet you were charged it, that is a breach of exactly this rule.

It is easy to work out: a six-pack of water costs 60 cents more, a case of 24 cans of beer €2.40 more. For a family that is noticeable money, and it stays out of your pocket until the day you take the empty containers back.

What carries the Volta symbol and what does not

The scheme covers single-use drinks containers of up to 3 litres: plastic bottles and metal and aluminium cans sold in Portugal. There is only one sign: the Volta symbol on the packaging. No symbol means no deposit was charged, and the container will not be taken back.

What is not in the scheme at all: glass of any kind, including water, wine and beer bottles; ECAL cartons, also known as Tetra Pak; drinks that are more than 25% dairy, that is, milk and drinking yoghurts. Nor is any packaging that did not hold a drink: bottles of oil, shampoo, detergent. All of this still goes into the yellow and green bins, as before.

From 10 April to 9 August 2026 there was a transition period: containers with and without the symbol were on the shelves at the same time. It is over: since 10 August 2026 drinks in this kind of packaging cannot be sold without the Volta symbol. If you still have an old bottle without the symbol at home, there was no money on it and there will be none: it belongs in the yellow bin.

Containers from another country are not part of the Portuguese scheme: under the operator's rules, only packaging sold on the Portuguese market can be returned. Not sure about a particular bottle? The Volta app lets you check it by its barcode; the app is free and also shows the nearest return point.

Where to take the containers

There are three kinds of return point, and this matters: it is not only about machines.

Machines (Pontos volta) stand in supermarkets and hypermarkets, either inside the shop or by the entrance outside. According to the operator, as of 2 September 2026 there were more than three thousand of them. The machine takes containers one at a time, reads the barcode and crushes them inside; there is no limit on how many you bring in one visit.

Manual return (Pontos volta manuais) means small shops, markets, cafés and corner shops with no room for a machine. There the shop assistant takes the container in hand, checks the barcode and gives you the money in cash.

Kiosks (Quiosques volta) are made for people who have saved up a lot: they take everything at once, about 120 items a minute, and there is someone on hand to help. The operator speaks of 50 kiosks in 38 municipalities, but as of 2 September 2026 its website names only six: in Albufeira, Barcelos, Cascais, Funchal, Ponta Delgada and Vila Nova de Famalicão; they open at nine in the morning and, on the mainland, stay open until seven in the evening, seven days a week. There the money goes into the Volta app, transfer via MB Way is promised, and there is a button to give the deposit to charity.

You do not have to return containers to the shop where you bought them: machines and kiosks take any container in the scheme, wherever it came from. The exception is cafés, restaurants and bars: they only have to take back what they sold themselves. The ‘Onde devolver’ (where to return) map on the Volta website and the same app show the nearest point.

“So they're in the chain shops, either inside or right next to them outside. They only take uncrushed cans and bottles with the volta logo”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

chatporto14.06.2026

Containers must be undamaged: when the machine won't give you your money back

There are five requirements, and they are not a formality: the container must be empty, undamaged, with its cap on (for bottles), not crushed and not punctured, and the barcode and the Volta symbol must be readable. You do not need to wash it; it just has to be empty.

The reason is not fussiness. The machine recognises a container by its barcode and its shape, and that is also how it tells one already returned from a new one: a crushed or punctured container is a sign it has already been through a machine. The second reason is fraud: someone else's barcode stuck on an unrelated object of similar weight. That is why manual return has exactly the same requirements, and shop assistants are given an app to check the container against the database.

The practical takeaway is simple: the habit of flattening bottles to save space at home now costs money. Do not throw away the cap either: without it the bottle will not be accepted. If a container is still refused, the money is lost, and the container itself goes into the yellow bin like any other plastic.

“Say what you like, but this system needs sorting out: not taking bottles and cans unless they're in perfect condition is a pain. They make us carry a bag of bottles around like it's full of eggs, making sure nothing gets dented, and with the risk of losing our 10 cents, which nobody just gives away.”

Translated from Portuguese; the original is at the link

r/portugal28.08.2026

Voucher, cash or store card

The deposit is paid back in different ways: a voucher you exchange for money; a voucher for shopping; a discount in that shop; a credit to a loyalty card; cash; and you can also give the money to charity.

The main thing to know: in a supermarket or hypermarket you are entitled to ask for money, and you do not have to spend it in that shop, as the operator itself says. The consumer association DECO makes the same point (May 2026): the voucher is exchanged for cash at the till, and you do not need to buy anything to do so. A voucher is valid for a year, and you can save them up.

In practice people run into something else. In discussions in August 2026, people complain that the machine only gives a voucher or credits the store card and pays no money; that there are usually two machines per shop and at best one of them works; and that, according to people, only one chain's machines pay the money into your bank account: Mercadona. Here the rule and the practice part ways, and the only way to get cash is to ask for it in words at the till, not to look for a button on the machine.

“I've only got two complaints about Volta. First: there are usually just two machines per supermarket, and often either both are out of order or only one works. Second: you can't get the money, only vouchers or credit on the store card.”

Translated from Portuguese; the original is at the link

r/portugal28.08.2026

“Anyone who got used to using the recycling bin on the street is now rewarded with driving their bottles around in the car to a working Volta machine, and only Mercadona's machines let you get the money back into your account.”

Translated from Portuguese; the original is at the link

r/portugal28.08.2026

Who has to take containers back and who does not

What a shop has to do depends on the size of its sales floor, and that explains why one place takes everything and another only its own.

A shop of 400 m² or more has to take every container in the scheme, whatever it sells itself. A shop of 50 to 400 m² has to take at least the drinks it sells itself; but if it has installed a machine, it takes everything. A shop under 50 m² need not take any at all, and that is not a breach.

Cafés, restaurants and bars have their own rule: they only have to take the containers they sold themselves. A separate case is a place where you pay at the end of the meal: there you are not charged a deposit at all, because the bottle stays with them and they return it. But where you pay up front (a counter, a drinks vending machine, a festival), you are charged the deposit, and it is up to you to carry the container away and return it.

If they refuse to take it back or the machine is not working

Refusing to refund the deposit where it must be refunded is a breach, and the operator says so plainly. First step: call the manager and say the machine is not working or that you were refused a refund. Most of the time that is the end of it.

If that does not help, ask for the complaints book. Everyone who sells goods or services must have one, and a complaint about a shop, café or petrol station goes to ASAE (Autoridade de Segurança Alimentar e Económica, the food and economic safety authority). The electronic book carries more weight than the paper one: you must get a personal reply to it within 15 working days. How to do it step by step is in the guide Livro de Reclamações: how to complain in Portugal.

Since May 2026 DECO has been asking people to report such cases, both the shortage of return points and the difficulties in getting refunds: these reports are what its talks with the operator and the government are built on.

With a broken machine it is duller: the official answer is to look for another point nearby or come back later, the containers will keep. And one last thing worth knowing: deposits nobody comes back for stay inside the scheme and go into developing it, into equipment and new return points. They are not paid back out to shoppers.

If you have nowhere to return them and no time

The scheme is easy to grumble about, but it is more useful to work out who it really gets in the way of. If the shop is just downstairs and you go there once a week, it all comes down to keeping a bag in the cupboard and taking it with you when you go shopping. If the shop is twenty kilometres away and you go once a month, the containers pile up at home by the boxful, and that is exactly what people complain about in discussions in August 2026, suggesting machines be put at least at the juntas (local parish councils).

What you can actually do. First, do not go looking for a machine specially, return them during your usual shop: the containers will keep and can wait as long as needed. Second, look at the small shops nearby: manual return pays out straight away and with no queue for a machine. Third, buy water in glass or large bottles: glass and containers over three litres are not in the scheme at all, and no deposit is charged on them.

There is also a fourth way, the one people most often arrive at in conversations: throw the bottle into the yellow bin as before. You can do that too, and it is exactly what the scheme is trying to prevent: the plastic will be recycled, and the ten cents will stay with the operator.

“The problem is the lack of respect for people who were already recycling properly. In a country where wages are rubbish and the cost of living keeps going up, asking people who already do their civic duty to pay up front for something they were already doing makes no sense. Yes, the money comes back; but when you're counting cents to make it to the end of the month, handing over a bit of extra change and only getting it back once you've drunk the stuff and returned the bottles is stressful.”

Translated from Portuguese; the original is at the link

r/portugal28.08.2026

“As someone who makes an effort to put all plastic in the yellow bin, to me Volta is recycling with extra steps. I refuse to buy bottles and cans with the Volta symbol (the upside is I drink less fizzy drinks), and the few I do end up with go into the yellow one anyway.”

Translated from Portuguese; the original is at the link

r/portugal28.08.2026

What is happening around it right now

On 2 September 2026 the Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, admitted that the scheme is struggling: packaging is dumped right next to the bins, in places there are not enough machines, and rubbish bins are being picked through by people after the same ten cents. The promises are to put separate containers for this packaging next to the bins, add more machines, including large ones, reach agreements with cafés and hotels, step up inspections and choose machine locations together with the municipalities.

Some figures for scale: since April more than 150 million containers have gone through the scheme; the target is to collect 90% of such packaging by 2029; the whole build cost about €150 million, and it was paid for by drinks producers, not the state budget.

Since May 2026 the consumer association DECO has been repeating the same thing: people were not told the rules. Most questions are about which containers are in the scheme, where they are taken and why containers can no longer be flattened. DECO also insists that a return point should be near home, not ‘somewhere’: people pay the deposit when they buy, not when it suits them to make a trip.

In conversations people argue about exactly this, and both sides are worth hearing. Some think the work of the bin collectors has been shifted onto shoppers. Others point out that in Germany such a scheme has worked for years, with a deposit there said to be 25 cents, and that the machines will learn over time to take even dented containers.

“As if Portugal's the first to do this. This system has been working pretty successfully for years in various countries, Germany for example. Only difference is it's 25 cents there. And they'll gradually sort the machines out, they'll take 99.9% of containers, dented ones too. No tragedy, I don't feel any about chucking containers in a bag and returning them when I do the shopping, I've been doing it for years. But here it's a real drama!”

Translated from Russian; the original is at the link

RussosEmPortugal29.07.2026