Bars and restaurants in Lisbon have 60 days to stop selling drinks in plastic cups

Commercial drinking establishments and restaurants in Lisbon will have 60 days to begin applying the rules that prohibit the sale of drinks in single-use plastic cups, after which they risk being fined.

The decision to move forward with implementing the rules and responsibilities regarding the “daily cleaning of areas surrounding commercial establishments and their respective areas of influence, as well as the prohibition of single-use or disposable plastics” is contained in an order published on 2 May in the Municipal Bulletin of the Lisbon City Council.

At issue are rules included in Lisbon’s Waste Management, Cleaning and Urban Hygiene Regulations, with the aforementioned order determining that “with immediate effect and for a period of 60 days” be triggered by the municipality’s urban hygiene services. awareness among commercial establishments”, in order to “reinforce the need to comply with the provisions” contained in the aforementioned regulation.

The regulation — whose application was initially postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but which is now in force — determines the prohibition of “serving, outside the establishment, products resulting from the sale and consumption of the same, in plastic for use single or disposable, namely cups”.

Failure to comply with this practice can be punished with a fine of between 150 and 1,500 euros, in the case of natural persons, and between 1,000 and 15,000 euros, in the case of legal entities, with the processing of these administrative offenses being the responsibility of the territorially competent parish council.

The same regulation also provides for new rules for commercial establishments, namely restaurants and beverages, “regarding the daily cleaning of their surrounding areas and respective zone of influence and also regarding the mandatory placement of ashtrays and equipment for disposing of waste produced by their customers”, says the order.

Although the rules are in force, a margin of time (60 days) was created for the services to raise awareness among the companies concerned about the need to comply with the regulation.

The order, signed by Carlos Moedas, also requests the presidents of all parish councils in Lisbon, to “exercise the respective powers provided for” in the regulations in matters of supervision and administrative offences.

Lusa, an official source from Lisbon City Council, said that this order was made known to parish councils, the Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Similar Services of Portugal (AHRESP) and also to distribution companies.