On the 26th of August 2021, Emergency Ordinance no. 92/2021 on the waste regime was published in the Official Gazette.
The ordinance aims to ensure a high level of protection of the environment and public health by establishing measures to prevent and reduce waste generation and their efficient management, to reduce the adverse effects caused by waste generation and its management, and other measures to reduce the general effects caused by the use of resources.
We highlight below some of the measures of interest regulated by the Ordinance:
- Economic operators throughout the agri-food chain must take measures to reduce food waste generation, with the aim of reducing food waste by 50% until 2030. Food donations and other forms of redistribution for human consumption will also be encouraged;
- Producers and owners of hazardous waste, as well as economic operators authorized from the point of view of environmental protection to carry out activities of collection, transport, storage and treatment of hazardous waste are obliged to take various measures to protect the environment, including traceability from the place of waste generation to the final destination;
- One field that will be covered by the new regulations is construction – thus, economic operators in the field of construction who have building / demolition permits have the obligation to have a waste management plan resulting from construction/ demolition activities;
- With regard to the separate collection of paper, metal, plastic and glass, waste producers and waste holders will have to introduce separate collection for textiles as well, by 1 January 2025;
- It is expressly stated that the controls can also be performed by police officers and agents within the Romanian Police, by officers and non-commissioned officers within the Romanian Gendarmerie, if applicable, as well as by local police personnel;
- It is forbidden to incinerate separately collected waste for preparation for reuse and recycling, with certain exceptions provided by law. Those who do not comply with these measures risk being fined between 5,000 and 15,000 lei (for individuals), respectively 20,000 and 40,000 lei (for legal entities);
- Regarding the sanctions applicable to those who do not comply with the waste disposal measures, they are increased (from the maximum previously provided by law, respectively 40,000 lei, it will become 70,000 lei).
These provisions become applicable as of 25th of September 2021. Until then, the old provisions are applicable.
