Report on the waste sector in Romania 2012

For the implementation in 8 development regions of the National Waste Management
Plan, Regional Waste Management Plans (RWMP) have been issued, with a view to
develop and implement an integrated waste management system, economically and ecologically efficient. Targets to comply with National and EU objectives and including projections for the necessary investment in equipment and facilities have been set up in the RWMP. The waste management legislation in Romania is in line with the acquis communautaire. In the process of negotiating the access to EU, Romania obtained transition periods until 2017 for certain waste types, in order to comply with EU Directives as follows: municipal landfills - transition period until 2017, temporary storage of hazardous industrial waste - 2009; industrial waste landfills – transition periods until 2013.

Between 2011 and 2013, 75 non - compliant landfills are still to be closed. In accordance with the Accession Treaty, Romania needs to ensure the gradual reduction of waste stored in the 101 municipal landfills which do not comply,by capping the maximum quantities stored annually as follows:

• by end 2010: max. 2 900 000 t;
• by end 2011: max. 2 740 000 t;
• by end 2012: max. 2 460 000 t;
• by end 2013: max. 2 200 000 t.

According to Directive 1999 / 31 / EC and Government Decision 162 / 2002, Romania must reduce the quantity of biodegradable municipal waste deposited annually, as compared with 2001 (in weight), to 50% till 2010 and to 35% till 2017. Other periods of transition have been obtained for some targets in the field of packaging waste by 2013, aimed at significantly reducing the amount of waste to be stored.

Landfill

•2013 – closure of 238 existing municipal landfills which are not in compliance with EU
regulations;
•Construction of 65 municipal landfills which are in compliance with EU regulations (min.
capacity of 100,000 t/year – regional) – transfer stations;
•2016 – reduction of the quantity of solid waste disposed in 101 municipal non-hazardous waste
which are not in compliance with EU regulations;
•2013 – reduction of the quantity of liquid waste disposed in 23 plants which are not in
compliance with EU regulations;
•2006 – 2011 – reduction of the quantity of liquid waste disposed in five sedimentation ponds
which are not in compliance with EU regulations.

Biodegradable waste management

The Strategy provides to reduce the removal by landfills of biodegradable waste:

•by 25% up to 2011;
•by 50% up to 2015;
•by 65% up to 2016,

compared with the quantities generated in 1995.

Selective collecting of packaging waste – M.O. No. 1281/2005

Containers – inscriptions and colours:

•Non - recyclable waste – black/grey;
•Biodegradable waste – brown;
•Paper/cardboard – blue;
•Glass white/coloured – white/green;
•Ferrous and plastic – yellow;
•Hazardous waste – red.

Packaging and packaging waste (directive 94/62/ce)

•2013 – recycling target level - 55%
•2013 – revaluation target level – 62%

WEEE (Directive 2002/96/CE)

Targets:
31.12.2008 – 4 kg WEEE/inhabitant/year
31.12.2008 – recovery and recycling …

Incineration of waste

Transition period until 2009 for the close-up of 335 crematoria located in the hospital and construction of 8 regional incineration plants for medical hazardous waste and one national incineration plant for industrial hazardous waste.

Different programs, absolutely necessary to fulfill the legislation requirements, will be implemented in Romania in the period 2008 - 2016:

- construction of 65 new landfills in compliance with UE and Romanian legislation; except the existing 20 should be constructed other 45 new landfills;
- transfer station at the level of each county for small localities;
- regional sorting plants;
- recycling plants;
- composting plants;
- construction of 8 incinerators for medical waste (one for each region);
- construction of an industrial hazardous waste incinerator, estimated capacity 62,000 tons/year;
- co incineration of some municipal waste categories in the cement kilns;
- construction of municipal incineration plants with minimum capacity of 150,000 tons/year (each);
locations in Region 1, Region 6 and Region 8.

The tendency is to build, as much as possible under technical and economical point of view, regional waste treatment platforms for treatment- recycling and final disposal of municipal waste. For the moment the existing projects are connected with the construction of new landfills with the obligation the close-up the existing landfill, but the Romanian investors analyse the extension of the existing projects with sorting and recycling stations for municipal waste, WEEE, used oils, aso.

In order to be economically feasible, the locations of the regional waste treatment platforms will be located near the big cities.

Type of EU financed projects

The EU financing scheme for this domain offers subsidies for projects which usually
cover extended regional areas, either urban or rural. The main purpose of the financial scheme is to implement or complete the infrastructure for the integrated waste management system, starting from collection and transport to final disposal and / or recycling solution. There will be funded major projects, with values exceeding EUR 25 million. Maximum funding of total eligible costs of a project is 98% (of which 80% are provided by FEDR and 18% are provided by the national budget). Project beneficiaries which usually are the local authorities through the District Councils must provide the remaining 2% and have to cover the expenditure for the non - eligible costs.

According to SOP - Environment, the main objectives of the Priority Axis 2 - Area of
intervention “Development of integrated waste management and waste
management infrastructure expansion”, are as follows:

• Increase coverage of the population receiving municipal waste collection and
management services of appropriate quality and affordable tariffs
• Reduce the amount of waste deposited
• Increase the amount of waste recycled and recovered
• Establishment of efficient waste management structures

The operations to be developed under this key area of intervention will finance the
following indicative activities:

• Acquisition and installation of selective collection systems
• Construction of sorting, recycling and composting facilities
• Acquisition of waste transport vehicles
• Construction of municipal waste disposal facilities and transfer stations
• Recovery of gas from landfills, where appropriate
• Construction of adequate facilities for municipal hazardous waste (medical waste, electric and electronics waste, etc.) and other specific municipal waste streams (construction and demolition waste, etc.)
• Closure of non - compliant landfills
• Technical assistance for project preparation, management and supervision, publicity and awareness campaigns (on selective collection, sorting, recycling, composting), institutional governance improvement, tendering and selection of waste services operators.

More info frjacobs@telenet.be

Source: EVD, case study region 8 bucharest Ilfov, internet research and some interviews