Romanian environment minister Mircea Fechet stated on Thursday, April 24, that the Deposit-Return System, or SGR, has reached a sufficient level of maturity to consider introducing a fourth category of packaging, namely reusable packaging.

According to the minister, who was present at the "SGR in Romania" conference that day, a draft Government Decision making the change will be published for consultation within two weeks.

The system did not include the facility from the beginning because officials feared it would have made the process overly complicated. 

"I believe that today the SGR has reached a sufficient level of maturity to talk about the fourth category of packaging, namely reusable packaging, whether we are talking about mineral or still water, beer, or soft drinks. I am convinced that many other drinks can be packaged in reusable packaging,” said Mircea Fechet, cited by Agerpres.

The new packaging "will likely carry a similar deposit,” he said.

To adapt to the introduction of reusable packaging into the SGR system, some workflows will need to be adjusted.

“The difference between a bottle that is collected, broken, sorted, treated, remelted, and turned into new packaging, and one that we just return to the producer, wash, and reuse (which I understand can be done even 60 times), is very significant," said Fechet. 

According to the official, the SGR is growing week by week in terms of accessibility and the number of collection points. At the same time, issues related to collection and fraud still take place. 

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos | George Calin)