“There is an excess of packaging. There is little work being done to evolve on the part of brands. There hasn't been a transition in terms of sustainability. The models of disposability and packaging as a selling point remain,” she criticizes in statements to Lusa.

Susana Fonseca is vice-president of the environmental association Zero, but 18 years ago, she was part of another environmental association, Quercus, when, in statements to Lusa, she also pointed to the “large margin” of the Portuguese population that still did not recycle, regarding household waste on December 24th and 25th.

Today, when questioned by Lusa about what has changed in almost two decades, she says that the difference today is a better network of recycling points, closer to people, which can lead to greater recycling, but adds that on the other hand there has been an increase in consumption, with people having “access to many more things”, to online commerce, to “fast fashion”. “People buy a lot of things”.

These are things on which a lot of money is spent, which produce too much waste and which are sometimes almost waste themselves, useless things that stay in a drawer for years until they also end up in the trash, she says.

In these years, there has also been no “significant evolution” in the placement of waste on the street, on Christmas Day or the day after, forgetting that it is a period with fewer collections.

Susana Fonseca does not see much evolution in recent years, and to avoid the same discourse within the next 20 years, she advocates a change of system.

“If we produce less waste by being more rigorous in our choices, we don't reap direct benefits. We pay for waste based on water consumption. As long as we don't create a system where people pay for what they haven't separated, the situation won't be resolved,” she explains.

And she emphasizes that it's necessary to “take a step forward” and encourage adherence to separation and recycling and “penalize those who don't cooperate.”

The expert also argues that there's a structural component to change, making life easier for the population, “because managing waste isn't the most important thing in people's daily lives.”

In 2024, 5.52 million tons of urban waste were collected in Portugal, 182,800 tons more than in 2023, according to official data. Each inhabitant produced an average of 516.2 kilos of waste that year, 11.6 kilos more than the previous year.