The EU-backed National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) will give Romania a EUR 1.2 billion budget to improve the management of all types of waste by 2026. The funds and the subsequent projects will allow Romania to reach its recycling target of 70% for packaging waste, according to a Clean Recycle analysis.

The plan also includes the building of 565 collection centers for voluminous or hazardous waste such as batteries or construction packaging. The new centers will be located in small communities with up to 50,000 inhabitants.

Densely populated urban areas will also benefit from the plan. Nearly 14,000 digitized underground green islands will be installed around the apartment buildings in major cities. They will be used for the selective collection of household and packaging waste, which can be monitored remotely by the authorities.

The EU funds will also allow Romania to build seven new integrated collection centers for all waste in two years’ time. The centers will cover more than two dozen recycling stations across the country’s various regions.

“This will ensure the acceleration of the transition to a circular economy. There are also proposals to introduce more severe penalties for waste generators that do not comply with the rules,” said Cosmin Monda, founder and CEO of Clean Recycle, one of the top players in the local market of packaging waste responsibility transfer.

Romania desperately needs to improve its waste management system. The country is in the penultimate place among EU countries in terms of packaging recycling, with a rate of 44.6%, second only to Malta, according to Eurostat data. 

radu@romania-insider.com

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