Romania\u2019s Deposit-Return System (SGR) has proven effective in engaging citizens, though major challenges remain in the wider waste management sector, according to Raul Pop, Secretary of State at the Environment Ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe deposit-return system has demonstrated that it can engage citizens, which for all of us has traditionally been a challenge. Getting citizens involved in policies\u2014or even in environmentally relevant behaviors\u2014is not easy. This is also reflected in what happens with waste outside the deposit-return system,\u201d Pop said today at the Resource Recovery Summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that while the system performs well within its scope, it represents only a small share of Romania\u2019s overall waste stream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo put things into perspective, the deposit-return system manages around 400,000 tonnes of recyclable packaging per year, out of a total of 5.5 to 6 million tonnes of municipal waste generated in Romania,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Pop, the system is effective within its segment but highlights broader structural issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWithin its roughly 10% share, SGR is doing its job. On the remaining 90%, however, we still face very large challenges. These can be split into two categories: those where producers are obliged to finance collection, recycling and redesign, and those where we rely strictly on the funds we can collect from citizens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He pointed to differences between waste streams covered by extended producer responsibility schemes and those that are not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are talking about recyclables where extended producer responsibility already applies\u2014such as packaging, electrical equipment and batteries\u2014and about other types of waste where no redesign solution can significantly reduce the quantities generated,\u201d Pop added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pop also highlighted disparities in collection performance across materials, particularly comparing beverage packaging with other types.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are in a bittersweet situation for beverage producers, who now have access to a much more efficient collection system than traditional separate collection from households. Through SGR, they have reached around 85% recovery rates from the market. By comparison, for cardboard packaging\u2014often from the same producers as well as others\u2014we are talking about collection rates of 20%, at most 30%,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the Ministry\u2019s perspective, all waste streams must be addressed in parallel, he stressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFrom the Ministry\u2019s side, we must look at all segments of this \u2018pie\u2019 called waste management. If these quantities are properly managed, at least at the minimum level required by legislation, we are in a good place. But we are not there yet,\u201d Pop noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This gap creates tensions between public policy goals and industry concerns, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAt this stage, we see\u2014on one side\u2014a public interest in recovering as much as possible through the most efficient instrument we have, namely the deposit-return system, and\u2014on the other side\u2014producers\u2019 interest in maintaining reasonable costs. Producers have consistently pointed out that they lack control over the efficiency of these expenses. Collecting waste from the population is expensive,\u201d Pop concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romania\u2019s Deposit-Return System (SGR) has proven effective in engaging citizens, though major challenges remain in the wider waste management sector, according to Raul Pop, Secretary of State at the Environment Ministry. \u201cThe deposit-return system has demonstrated that it can engage citizens, which for all of us has traditionally been a challenge. Getting citizens involved in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4459,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,8],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-circular_economy","8":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainability-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainability-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainability-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainability-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainability-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4990"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainability-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4991,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainability-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4990\/revisions\/4991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainability-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainability-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainability-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sustainability-today.ro\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}