Romania should strengthen domestic recycling, ensure access to locally collected recovered paper and cardboard, and provide energy-intensive industries with competitive and predictable energy supplies to support sustainable industrial development, Marius Juncanariu, Vice President of ROMPAP, said at the Sustainability in Business Forum, organised by Sustainability Today and The Diplomat-Bucharest.
Juncanariu highlighted the industry’s investments in modern technology, energy efficiency and production capacity, while warning that rising exports of recovered paper and declining domestic paper production could increase Romania’s reliance on imports.
ROMPAP is the employers’ organisation representing Romania’s pulp, paper, cardboard and cardboard packaging manufacturers. Founded in 1992, it represents companies employing more than 5,000 people, with combined annual turnover exceeding 1 billion euros. Its members supply approximately 90% of the domestic market’s cardboard packaging requirements.
Over the years, ROMPAP member companies have invested more than 200 million euros in new technologies, equipment upgrades, energy efficiency and production capacity expansion, according to Juncanariu. These investments also aim to optimise resource consumption and support the sector’s decarbonisation and sustainability objectives.
“Our industry is energy-intensive, with energy accounting for 25–30% of our production costs. This makes investment in energy efficiency and modern technologies particularly important,” Juncanariu said.
He stressed that Romania should focus on developing domestic production and retaining added value within the country, given the existing manufacturing capacity, specialised workforce and technical expertise available in the paper and corrugated cardboard industry.
“Romania has the production capacity, expertise and skilled employees needed to generate added value domestically. We need policies that support the development of local manufacturing rather than increase our dependence on imports,” he said.
According to figures presented by Juncanariu, Romania’s cardboard packaging market grew by approximately 0.5% in the first half of 2026, while production of paper used in the sector declined by more than 6%.
“This points to a risk of increasing dependence on imports, even though Romania has the production capacity and resources needed to supply the packaging industry,” he noted.
Juncanariu also emphasised the importance of ensuring that the green transition does not indirectly encourage production capacity to relocate to other countries.
A central priority for ROMPAP is to strengthen Romania’s domestic circular economy. More than 95% of the raw materials used by the industry represented by the organisation consist of recovered paper and cardboard, making the sector a significant example of industrial circularity.
However, Juncanariu pointed to a 30% increase in recovered-paper exports over the past year, arguing that the outflow of recyclable materials creates pressure on prices and limits local manufacturers’ access to affordable raw materials.
“More than 95% of the raw materials we use are recovered paper and cardboard. This demonstrates the potential to create value from these materials within Romania. Yet, as exports of recovered paper increase, domestic producers face additional pressure on prices and on access to affordable raw materials,” he said.
He called for a shift from policies focused primarily on collection targets towards mechanisms that actively support domestic recycling and the use of recovered materials in local manufacturing.
“We need to move from objectives centred on collection towards targets and mechanisms that support recycling locally,” Juncanariu said.
ROMPAP has proposed several measures to the authorities aimed at improving access to recovered paper and strengthening the domestic recycling industry. These include establishing a pre-emption mechanism that would give local industry access to recovered paper collected in Romania, as well as considering controls on exports when sufficient material is not available for domestic recovery, in compliance with European Union rules.
Other proposed measures include reviewing the allocation of incentives for recovered paper recycled domestically, supporting the use of recycled content in products, and continuing investment in collection and recycling infrastructure.
Juncanariu also called for closer cooperation between industry and public authorities to ensure a competitive and predictable energy supply.
“Supporting the industry requires mechanisms that address the needs of energy-intensive manufacturers. We must ensure that these resources remain available within Romania and develop domestic production. This can only be achieved through cooperation between industry and the authorities,” he said.
For ROMPAP, the priorities are interconnected: strengthening local manufacturing, improving access to secondary raw materials, accelerating the circular economy and ensuring competitive energy costs. Together, these measures would help Romania retain more industrial value domestically while advancing the paper and cardboard sector’s sustainability and decarbonisation goals.
