Volta, the recycling initiative, was implemented on 10 April earlier this year. With the new system, each bottle of water or can containing less than three litres has had an additional cost of ten cents, which is then refunded if the consumer returns the empty container intact.

More than 300 million packages have since been returned through the Volta system; however, some officials have now publicly criticised the initiative, CNN Portugal reports.

The Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas, has called for the immediate cancellation of the system: “We don’t want it,” he said at the Municipal Assembly. “It’s a good intention, but it’s a bad outcome,” Moedas said.

“[Volta] is creating enormous pressure on urban hygiene, something that dirties the city. People are getting inside the garbage bins. I have images of people getting inside garbage bins, inside recycling points. It’s a disgrace,” Moedas added.

Social drama

Speaking to CNN Portugal, Nuno Jardim, director-general of the Centre for Support for the Homeless (CASA), acknowledges that the system has created some social drama.

CASA has witnessed cases of people who were being monitored and supported and were about to start working, who, as a result of the new system, refused the job, arguing that they could earn a better income and work less by collecting bottles and exchanging them for money.

“There have been users who were being monitored by other institutions together, who were users, were relatively balanced, and who, thanks to Volta, had financial resources, relapsed, and ended up getting lost,” Nuno Jardim said.

Jardim said that, in CASA’s particular experience, he could recall two such cases and stressed that he was not suggesting the problem was widespread.

Competing financial outcomes

Nuno Jardim said that he is aware of cases of people who have made 40 euros a day using the Volta system. “That’s a lot of bottles, but they manage it,” he points out, but highlights that not everyone achieves that amount every day.

In order for someone to receive 40 euros through Volta, they would need to collect a total of 400 bottles or cans, CNN Portugal reports. A daily income of 40 euros corresponds to 880 euros per month for someone collecting containers 22 days a month.

In an IEFP program, which allows people to leverage their skills to start working, participants receive the Social Support Index (IAS) of about 537 euros, Nuno Jardim explains.

In comparison, someone who manages to accumulate those 40 euros in bottles and cans a day will only need about 13 days to obtain the equivalent of that amount.

Drug addiction

In the case of people suffering from drug addiction, the problem is even more complex, he explains, because “buying a dose of crack is extremely cheap.”

He argues that since the beginning of the system, it has become increasingly easier to relapse. “These people began to realise that there [at Volta], with less work, more relaxed and at ease, they can earn some income, instead of being able to work, strive to work or focus on their treatment regarding their substance use.”

According to Nuno Jardim, this is the main negative social consequence of Volta.

Beyond Lisbon

This phenomenon is not unique to Lisbon, according to Jardim, who says CASA is also seeing it in Porto, where the organisation has branches. He believes this could be “a new paradigm affecting the main metropolitan centres of the national territory.”

Government defends Volta

The Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, has already responded to the controversy raised by fellow Social Democrat Carlos Moedas, assuring that Volta is here to stay.

Carvalho defended the system by arguing that Volta, up to September, “exceeded the target set for the end of the year of 40%” and that the system will soon be something “mandatory from a European point of view”.

To this, Nuno Jardim argues that the systems do not have to be the same everywhere, because “we have cultural variations, we have economic differences and, damn it, we have 20% of the population that is poor.”

Nuno Jardim disagrees with the “immediate cancellation” of the system, as advocated by the mayor of Lisbon, but argues that the system requires a review: “Perhaps the procedure should be changed, because the poverty and despair levels of some people are so high that the vulnerabilities they may have could lead to these situations.”

Social dysregulation

To CASA, there is nothing wrong with a homeless person being able to earn a little extra money to buy the food that they need; the problem is the “social dysregulation” happening, where people who could have had opportunities to get out of their situation are instead encouraged to remain in their current circumstances.

The model for supporting homeless people tends to be based primarily on work, Nuno Jardim explains, as it is through work that the opportunity to generate housing and take other leaps forward usually occurs.