What will happen in 2021 with the recycling of electrical waste in Romania?
Bucharest, December 16
The webinar took place on Tuesday, December 15 "Retrospective 2020. Forecasts 2021 in WEEE management" organized by ECOTIC (www.ecotic.ro) together with hotnews (www.hotnews.ro ).
Event recording is available here.
During the seminar, the representatives of the most important actors in the field discussed the following topics: next year's target which will be 65% (compared to 45% in 2020), the penalty of 4 lei / kg (unattainable target), the most high penalty in the European Union and the need to implement the "approach of all actors" in the field of WEEE.
Mircea Fechet, Minister of Environment, Waters and Forests, stated at the event:
“When we talk about WEEE, as in the case of other types of waste, we must have a profound reform, starting from the citizen and benefiting from sufficient awareness campaigns. At the same time, I believe that there must be adequate infrastructure for the collection of such waste. "
Valentin Negoiță, ECOTIC President, presented the current context stating that:
“2020 was atypical for the collection flow due to the establishment of the state of emergency and alert: the closure of many municipal collection points, the disappearance of some collectors from the market, the collection base remaining retail. The year 2020 also meant, however time for analysis and reflection. Thus, WEEE Forum conducted the study together with UNITAR WEEE Flows 2020. The study identifies the situation in European countries, the problems we face in achieving collection targets and makes recommendations for improving WEEE collection. Among them, the “approach of all actors” stands out, ie the responsibility and involvement of all actors in the WEEE flow: local public authorities, sanitizers, producers, retail, collectors and recyclers, an approach that we want included in Romanian legislation.
Ion Maican , General Manager System Plus highlighted the challenge of reaching the 65% target from 2021:
"If we stick with this goal, the result will be that IT, electrical and electronic equipment will in principle cost more, it will be necessary to introduce in the price of the equipment the penalty for the quantity we can not collect."
Octavian Tuglea, Director of the Dedeman Compliance Department highlighted the difficulties faced by producers / distributors:
"Currently we feel the lack of a guide or more explicit rules on the classification of WEEE, as well as how to determine the reported weights. Such a guide should be addressed to producers and OTRs and at the same time be uniformly applicable at national level. “
Adrian Virlan - Romstal Investment Environmental Auditor addressed the issue of increasing green stamp tariffs:
“Unfortunately this extremely rapid increase in targets for 2021 will be reflected primarily in costs and I am referring here to the management costs that the manufacturer will have to bear to achieve the targets, OTR rates are likely to increase in order to be able to set up certain provisions for the payment of possible penalties in the context where it is clear that the 65% target is very unlikely to be achieved. "
Dragos Călugaru - ECOTIC General Manager presented the ECOTIC proposal to involve all actors and stressed that:
"OTRs, as representatives of producers, cannot be held responsible for the inactivity of some actors or the over-activity of the informal system."
Marius Costache - General Manager Green WEEE, he specified:
“Achieving the targets must maintain a balance of responsibilities of all actors involved, from producers, OTRs, collectors, sanitation and recyclers. It is not easy to find this balance, if the pressure remains only on a part of those involved, the system will seize and the results will not be the desired ones. "
Ana-Maria Șchiopu - Head of the Environment and Quality Management Office of Salubris Iași, presented examples of good practice from cowards:
“Our projects were largely addressed to the population, and we proposed collection and delivery projects to economic agents. One of the most important aspects was the implementation of the home collection system, so that there are no difficulties in disposal. On the separate collection side in Iasi, many projects have been developed, such as the implementation of the smart bin. ”
The awards ceremony of the twelfth edition of the Clean Environment Awards Gala also took place during the event. ECOTIC wanted to bring to the public's attention this year as well the atypical environmental projects that contribute to society. Winning projects in previous years that have proven continuity and developed activities even in a pandemic context, are recognized for their efforts by this year's award:
- Public Institutions Category - Suceava County School Inspectorate for the Ecological Treasure project
- NGO category - Carpathia Conservation Foundation for the CARPATHIA project, EUROPE'S WILD RESERVATION
- Category Educational institutions- Bilteni Technological High School, Structure Secondary School No. 1 Peșteana-Jiu, Bilteni commune, Gorj County
- Category Companies - Salubris SA Iași for the development of collection projects from the population
- 2020 Special Award - General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Sector 6, Bucharest, for the social store SOCIALXCHANGE.
Watch below the staging with this year's Gala winners:
.................................... ..
About ECOTIC:
ECOTIC is the first organization of producers and importers of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) in Romania, founded in 2006, which provides free containers for the separate collection of small electronic equipment waste including light sources and batteries, as well as free takeover of bulky equipment from the company headquarters or from home. For more details call 021 9641.