Valorfito, Portugal's agrochemical packaging collection system, announces growth

By Leonardo Gottems, reporter for AgroPages

Portugal's agrochemical packaging collection system, called Valorfito, announced in a statement in March, a 28% growth in the comparison of 2020 as against the previous year, with a total collection of 479 tons of packaging of plant protection products, seeds and biocides.

“These results are, if it was still necessary, a sign of the resilience of the entire agricultural sector and of farmers in particular, who despite an extremely challenging year like the one in 2020 have not stopped, and managed to maintain their activity and production so that there were no breaks in the food supply chains, and still maintain the environmental awareness of contributing to the collection of used packaging,” said António Lopes Dias, general director of Valorfito.

"This excellent result will certainly cause an increase in the rate of recovery of packaging waste and allow a greater proximity to the objective previously defined for the year 2021," Dias affirmed. 

“The results achieved are largely due to the work of Valorfito's management and team and, above all, to the commitment of all stakeholders in the sector, namely farmers and recovery points,” he stated.

According to a statement from the entity, in 2020, given the difficulties encountered since March, “The Valorfito effort has become more intense to ensure that all packaging collections used in the agricultural sector were conducted through the contracting of an additional national waste management operator, guaranteeing support to the entire sector.”

Also according to the entity, this system allows for meeting the needs of agricultural producers to find an adequate destination for the residues from the packaging of plant protection products that are generated in their agricultural holdings. They ensure that the entire agricultural chain (producers, distributors and farmers) benefits from complying with legislation on waste packaging for plant protection products.