Local public administration authorities are obliged to
implement a separate collection system for a minimum of four fractions: paper, plastics, metals, and glass1. Since the approval of Law no.249 of October 28, 20152 there is an annual general recycling target of 50% from total weight of packaging materials and an annual recycling target for paper and cardboard of 60%.
EPR system
A scheme of Extended Producer Responsibility regarding packaging is set by the governmental decision nr.621/2005. Through this decision and according to Law nr.101, 25/04/2006 *republished* and Law no.249, 28/10/2015 an authorized economic operator can take the responsibility of revaluing and recycling packaging waste in the name of packaging producers. In the past there were 10 EPR schemes active in Romania. Due to the crisis of the Romanian EPR system some of them are now bankrupt and all are under criminal investigation. No information provided on EPR scheme acting in Mihai Viteazu.
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WASTE COLLECTION SCHEME
The separate waste collection scheme was first introduced in 2011. Currently the system is deficient and selective waste collection for paper and cardboard is done only for shops which have signed a contract with a waste operator.
The waste management system is a mix of Bring Banks (BB) and Door-to-Door (DtD) with a plan to extend the DtD system. The BB are located in 10 places in the municipality and in 55 more points in the micro-region, comprising Mihai Viteazu and other 2 municipalities. In the original scheme the blue container was for paper & board while the yellow container for plastics. Metals were supposed to be placed in the brown container and the green bin was for residual waste. However they are used without considering their initial purpose for separating waste, both by citizens and by the waste operator. Big businesses have separate collection systems and Kaufland is an example. Hamburger Recycling is the service provider for big businesses and it is not allowed to collect from citizens.A Door-to-Door system for residual waste, where recyclables and also paper and cardboard are found, is provided for the citizens. The collection happens once per week. Administration, offices, small shops have individual contracts with the waste operator.
Service to the citizens:
N/A
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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
A promotion campaign was conducted in order to promote the introduction of the separate collection system. Leaflets and banners were used, mainly targeting schools. However in the current moment the operator has no budgeted communication campaign.
No further details on communication activities provided. The citizens that responded to the questionnaire stated to a large part that they feel fairly well or very well informed about how to sort their waste. 4 citizens stated that they feel rather poorly or poorly informed about how to sort their paper and cardboard and 2 citizens felt the same about sorting their waste in general.
The main source of information for citizens is by far the instructions provided on the container/bins (11 respondents waste in general, 9 respondents for paper and cardboard fraction). Further sources are TV announcements/advertisements (8/7), leaflets that were distributed to the mailboxes (6/5), billboards (6/4), local newspapers (4/2) and the websites of the municipality (4/2).
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EVOLUTION PAPER & CARBOARD WASTE COLLECTED
No information provided
PAPER AND CARDBOARD WASTE TREATMENT
All waste collected on the territory of Mihai Viteazu is delivered to a manual sorting station just outside the municipality. Recyclables are sold to the recyclers after being sorted while the residual waste is brought to a landfill 300km away. No information provided on paper & cardboard in residual waste and on paper quality.
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COSTS AND REVENUE, RESOURCES
Waste management services are provided to citizens provided the payment of a special tax of 10 lei/month which is included in the overall taxation that citizens pay. For others/economic entities there are contracts that settle the tariffs, agreed between them and the waste operator4. The costs for waste management services for small shops for example amount to 261,36 lei/year5.
Note: 1) Costs and revenues for the municipality are questionable. Clarification has been requested. 2) At another place it is stated that the annual cost for WM services is 36 lei – not in line with the monthly fee of 10 lei mentioned here.
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STAKEHOLDER SATISFACTION
For more than half of the respondents (citizens) the level of satisfaction with the waste management services provided by the municipality is rather good (see figure 1). However, when going into more details about the services provided by the municipalities it shows that 7 respondents disagree with the statement that the WM services provide good service for money, and several disagree with the system being transparent and of high quality. Furthermore there are large percentages of neutral and no answers for this question which is also remarkable.The two main issues for citizens to sort their waste at home seems to be a lack of space (7 respondents) as well as the inconvenience of the waste management system (5 respondents).
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MAIN PROBLEMS/CHALLENGES
The main issue in Mihai Viteazu at the moment is that there is currently only a co-mingled collection of recyclables with low quantities.
More information:Eva Miclea – Senior advisor
Mihai Viteazu municipality
micleaeva@yahoo.com
+40752283485
1 Law no.101 of April 25, 2006 (*republished*). Note: If technically, economically, environmentally, in terms of the public health, and in terms of the quality standards necessary for the relevant recycling sectors, it is not possible to implement a separate collection system for a minimum of four fractions, the local public administration authorities are obliged to implement a system of separate collection of municipal waste on a minimum of 2 fractions, wet and dry, and a sorting system through which at least the 4 fractions are obtained 2 Law no.249 of October 28, 2015, Art.14 (1) 3 The questionnaire was filled out by 16 citizens from Mihai Viteazu. 4 According to Law nr.101/2006 5 (8 August 2016): EUR 1 = RON/LEI 4.4584 -0.0038 (-0.1%) (European Central Bank)
