ZPQ-Consultores, Lda is the result of long-standing practical experience in accompanying start-up waste treatment companies from all sectors and origins which, in the face of current technical and legal requirements, are striving for greater efficiency and profitability in their processes.

Implementing the legal constraints on companies' infrastructures is difficult, requires advanced technical knowledge and a huge dose of courage on the part of investors in the intermediate waste treatment and final recycling sector.

Personally, I believe that Europe must be able to cut down on excessive bureaucracy. This will help to reduce the cost of processing waste and, consequently, to reduce the cost of secondary raw materials by increasing their subsequent inclusion in production processes. It is also my opinion that this reduction in bureaucracy will not reduce the quality of recycled products, but rather free up companies financially to invest in new technologies that could greatly increase their quality and efficiency as sustainable inputs.

I take advantage of this introductory note to thank those to whom I owe all my knowledge, to the more than 600 Portuguese companies with whom I have worked, and work, in terms of licensing and practical implementation of their conditions on the ground, to APOGER – Portuguese Association of Waste Operators and Recyclers, which I presided over for 16 years, to APOREB- Portuguese Association of Waste Operators for Bioenergies, which I have presided over for 4 years and to APIP – Portuguese Plastics Industry Association, whom I recognize as having a fundamental importance in the future of plastics recycling in Portugal, and who, through the possibility he gave me of being part of the Advisory Board of the Roadmap for the Decarbonization of the Plastics Industry, increased my knowledge and training in this field.