“In the sector of waste management, Romania still has a lot to do and a lot to recover. The RetuRO national project will bring a large part of the packaging back into the circular economy, but Romania pays considerable sums for the waste it does not recycle, and plastic is no exception.

It is a measure to penalize a behaviour that does not yet align with the targets assumed at the national and European level. There are also infringement files against Romania which show that in fact the ambition of the greenest continent is doubled by a legislation (Green Deal) which modifies and updates targets at an alarming rate and which causes us problems, but also comes with costs that unfortunately, Romania pays them.

Regarding waste deposits, it is for the first time that Romania pays considerable sums as penalties because we failed to close these waste deposits. Discussions must stop and we must move to action, starting from individual behaviors that support a circular economy,” Ionut Sorin Banciu, State Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests said during Sustainability in Business Forum organized by The Diplomat-Bucharest and Sustainability Today.

“In Romania, we still have to penalize and pay higher taxes because citizens and institutions do not have a behavior that protects the environment. We would like this money to be used for investments. Romania has benefited and still benefits from substantial amounts (including through PNRR) for waste management, but the results are not yet visible because the collection centers with voluntary contribution are just being established, these eco-islands are starting to appear timidly. The results will be seen in a few years because there was a laborious process of developing the financing guidelines, of running the procedures at a centralized level. It will take another year before we see significant investments in waste management.

Sustainability is a broad concept and means taking from nature only as many resources as you need and reusing, repairing, which requires a transformation of mentality and behavior. It is an effort of an entire society.

Sustainability must be a business model, not just a CSR target or just a topic of praise for a select group, but far too limited by companies that do this.

In terms of textiles, all of Europe is at the beginning. This extended responsibility of producers is being discussed. Europe thought that it had to do something in this sector too, because textile waste is still waste.

We will transpose the European directives at the national level and we will create the mechanisms through which these schemes work. It seems that the solution of holding producers accountable is working. Here it works imperfectly, but it is a mechanism like the one for paying carbon certificates.

Regarding construction waste, unfortunately, I don’t have very good news. There is a draft normative act that is in the Senate. We hope that the future Parliament and the future Government will be more attentive to this field because it is no longer just a task to be respected but can generate businesses in the circular economy.

We should create some opportunities, some requirements in public procurement, for example when we build the infrastructure, that a percentage of the materials used should come from construction waste.

The government must give a signal of encouragement to companies that want to do business in the waste market, to create new value chains, new jobs.

I believe that the circular economy can generate a significant percentage of jobs for Romanians.”