This article provides an assessment of waste management evolution in Portugal, with a particular emphasis on the performance brought by the adoption of several EPR schemes, namely the ones developed for packaging (general, medicine and plant protection products), used tires, used mineral oils, end-of-life vehicles (ELV), waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), portable batteries and car and industrial batteries. Further, a particular focus is placed on the drivers that influenced the development of such EPR schemes in the country and the challenges facing EPR schemes' development in Portugal. The results achieved in a short period of time suggest that the evolution of the implementation of the EPR concept in Portugal was, so far, successful, not only in quantitative but also in qualitative terms (contributing for a reduction of environmental performance). However, there is still room for improving EPR impact in the long-run and this is largely dependent on policy instruments (of fiscal, information and supervision natures) that can positively influence the context in which EPR schemes operate.