The introduction of the recoverable deposit system (Volta System) in Madeira created a direct economic incentive for recycling, but it has also led people in extreme poverty to rummage through trash containers to collect packaging that works with this system. The article questions the speed with which public authorities act to punish this practice.
The Funchal Municipal Solid Waste Regulation, through Article 39, establishes fines between €25 and €250 for anyone who rummages through trash, in an application that the author considers prioritizes urban hygiene and visual order over a human understanding of the social problem. Enforcement is carried out by municipal inspectors, the Police Public Security (PSP), and video surveillance.
The author denounces an asymmetry in the application of the law, comparing the swift and regulatory response against the poor with the slowness and ineffectiveness regarding white-collar crimes such as tax fraud, corruption, and money laundering, which often expire or drag on for years under judicial secrecy. The article warns that financially punishing those who search through trash out of necessity may push marginalized people toward illegality.
The text concludes that this contradiction reflects a punitive view that prefers to hide poverty under the pretext of sanitization, while questioning who oversees the major economic interests, referring to figures designated as the "Port Oligarch" and the "Construction Oligarch."
