EnviMin Tanczos: Two cases of letters of formal notice addressed to Romania, closed

Minister of Environment, Waters and Forests Tanczos Barna said on Wednesday, after the Government meeting, that two cases of letters of formal notice addressed to Romania have been formally closed through the adoption of simple Ordinances on waste storage, and on packaging management, respectively, agerpres reports.

"I presented in the Government meeting two simple Ordinances - one on waste storage and another on ways to manage packaging and packaging waste. Both legislative acts transpose European Directives. In both cases Romania was sent letters of formal notice. The discussions with the relevant ministries that will be involved and affected by these normative acts lasted for weeks, months, this being the reason for which only in today's meeting were we able to present the simple transposition Ordinances. By approving them, we practically closed two cases of formal notice addressed to Romania. Next week, we will close the third case of formal notice, by Emergency Ordinance, on the waste regime," said Minister Tanczos.

According to the official, the two normative acts stipulate a series of restrictions.

"Firstly, a series of restrictions on waste disposal. The policy of the European Union is clear in this respect in all areas, whether we are talking about industry or municipal waste. The aim is to reduce the amount stored, increase the recycling rate or percentage of energy recovery. The most important target at Union level for 2030 is 10 percent of landfill, out of total municipal waste collected. It is a huge challenge for administrative-territorial units. (...) Romania needs to find solutions to manage both the economic impact, namely the development of recycling capacities, the development of takeover, transport, sorting capacities, and the social part that will come, very often, with the electricity prices or the prices of sanitation services, for example," the dignitary explained.

He added that, in next week's Government meeting, an Emergency Ordinance would be approved, which will bring significant changes to the selective collection.

"Today, the law allows for selective collection not to be performed on four fractions in certain situations. Although we had proposals to keep this exception to the rule, we, the Ministry of Environment, are firmly convinced that only through very clear legislation and harsh sanctions can we oblige both local public authorities and sanitation companies to comply with this rule. There will be no possibility for the local public authority to carry out sanitation activities other than by collecting by four fractions - paper, plastic, glass and household waste that do not fall into the first three categories. Through this Emergency Ordinance we also implement the principles on the use of economic instruments in order to guide the management process and reduce the amount stored, increase landfill diversion targets, new operational requirements for extended producer responsibility schemes. Informing consumers also represents one very important principle," mentioned the minister.