Speaking at the Resource Recovery Summit, Marius Costache, CEO of GreenTech, highlighted the critical role of innovation and public policy in the development of Romania’s recycling industry, pointing to over two decades of continuous investment and technological progress.
“We have been innovating, I could say, since the beginning of 2001. There were not many players in the market at that time. When it comes to PET recycling, I believe we were among the first,” Costache said. “Since then and up to today, we have reached over 200 million euros in investments, not only in Romania and not only in Buzău.”
He emphasized that regulatory support has been essential for the sector’s growth, noting that major systems such as RetuRO and OIREPs would not exist without strong policymaking.
“Without policymaking, we would not be here today. If we didn’t have policymaking, RetuRO wouldn’t exist. If we didn’t have policymaking, OIREPs wouldn’t exist,” he said. “Very often, technology has moved ahead of policymaking and legislation. Each time, innovation has been influenced by what happens in the legislative area. It is very difficult for any company to innovate without legislative support—it is almost impossible to succeed.”
Costache also pointed to recent technological advancements developed by the company through European collaboration.
“For the past two years, we have been part of a European project where we developed a technology that detects batteries in electronic equipment,” he explained. “This is a major issue for electronics recyclers, as more and more devices contain batteries that are not easy to detect. We already have a functional project in Buzău for over a year.”
Looking at the broader picture, Costache underlined that the value of the circular economy should not be measured strictly through immediate costs or product pricing.
“It is quite difficult to see the effects of the circular economy directly in the price of a product or packaging,” he said. “If we look strictly at costs or revenues, the battle for the circular economy is already lost.”
“In my view, the circular economy represents access to materials for recyclers and those involved in this sector,” he added. “It means being able to transform waste into resources at the lowest possible cost.”
