On June 11, 2014 was held the second edition of the Round Table "Horizon 2020: Romania a recycling society?" event organized by Ecologic Magazine under the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
The meeting between environmental authorities and industry representatives, mediated by Ecologic Magazine aimed to identify the causes that has placed Romania on the last position within the EU, in terms of recycling. The discussions have been identified some of the causes of the current situation in which Romania appears in the Eurostat with 1% recycling rate and 99% of municipal waste disposal rate.
The ignorance of reality, a number of incorrect legislative provisions and the practice of public administration institutions are causes for incomplete reports sent by Romania to the European Commission.
The way in which the environmental legislation in Romania had been developed until now, without a real public consultation and without enabling the major players in the field to voice their opinions and only in the interests of certain business groups, are the main cause of the current situation.
The most important decision taken in the event, was proposed by Minister of Environment and Climate Changes Attila Korody, namely, the establishment of the ministerial working groups as soon as possible, which will include environmental and industry representatives of collective schemes through volunteering and active involvement, to contribute to the development of legislative proposals and environmental policies that affect them directly.
The event was attended by the Minister of Environment and Climate Changes Attila Korodi, State Secretary, Mihail Faca, Director of Directorate of Waste and Hazardous Substances in the MMSC, Cosmin Teodoru, chairman of the Environment Fund Administration, Adrian Gearap and president of the National Environmental Protection Agency, Zoltan Nagy Levente. There were also invited: collective schemes, OPP REMAT members, members of the Romanian Sanitation Association , and other economic agents from the waste management field.
The collective schemes were presented by representatives from: ECOTIC, Eco-Rom Packaging SA, Environ, SNRB, Ecopack Management, Ecologic 3R and Eco X. Business representatives from the following companies were present: Sota Group 21 SA, CIROM, Rematholding, Ltd Greenweee International SA, Can Pack Romania, AS Metal COM SRL, Romrecycling Ltd, Renault Romania, OPP REMAT Brasov and others. There were also present representatives of APIA and of Bucharest Municipality.
The debate was opened by Matei Dumitru, Ecologic Magazine Director, who presented the current situation in the field of waste management, as it appears in official documents, where there is a 1% municipal waste recycling.
Valentin Negoita, ECOTIC President said in the meeting: "It would be desirable, a continuity of this meeting, in the sense that issues that are discussed now, to be marked and tracked. Otherwise we risk just meeting and losing momentum. Continuity means not only meeting, but also following a grid of problems with specific data, with responsibilities and with achievements. Referring to the Romanian transposition of the new WEEE Directive, we must say that those involved in the selective collection and recycling of WEEE are affected by this situation. I do not think it is a problem of quantity collected this year at least, because each of us present here know the targets that we have assumed, but need to know, at least for 2015 which is the horizon, which are targets and what are the responsibilities. I propose to the representatives of environmental authorities what the Anglo-Saxons call "enforcement". Lack of continuous enforcement is something that demotivates us. "
During the meeting the speackers were: the Environment and Climate Changes Minister Attila Korodi, Mihail Faca, state secretary MMSC, Andrei Orban, Environ President, Sorin Popescu, general manager ECO-ROM Ambalaje, Adin Ionescu, general manager ECO PACK MANAGEMENT, Dumitru Gheorghe , chairman OPP REMAT, Marinela Dracea, general manager CIROM, Mihai Sofian general manager REMATHOLDING, Magdalena Yuga, director of Waste Direction from Bucharest City Hall, Marius Costache, general manager GreenWEEE INTERNATIONAL, Cornel Brezuica representative of OPP REMAT, Moiceanu Gabriel, general manager ADI SERV SAL Arges, Doru Iorga, general manager ECOLOGIC 3R, Florin Brabete, general manager ECO ANVELOPE SA, Dragos Doru, director CAN PACK ROMANIA, Constantin Apostol, director AS METAL COM.
Ecologic Magazine will launch in September, www.ccmediu.ro the first online discussion platform of legislative proposals.