waste

Romania on Thursday received a reasoned opinion from the European Commission, the second stage of an infringement procedure over the country’s failure to transpose EU rules on waste management into national legislation.

Romania currently recycles only 1% of its waste and the 50% recycling target set for 2020 cannot be reached, so the Government will put forward a new waste management law, which will include new taxes.

Just 1% of the 382 kilograms of waste produced in 2008 by each Romanian living in cities or large towns has been recycled, while the remainder has been stored, temporarily or permanently, in landfills, according to a statistic released Friday by Eurostat.

Some 75 tons of waste were collected from the Romanian seaside beaches behind the tourists who spent their May 1 vacation there, but the quantity is approximately one third lower than the one collected last year.

A Bucharest court on Wednesday decided to suspend the penalties against non-hazardous waste collector Protan SA (PRON.RO) levied by environment authorities, pending a final and binding ruling in the case.

The Popesti Leordeni unit of Romanina non-hazardous waste collector Protan can continue activity, as the Bucharest Court suspended the decision reached by the Bucharest Regional Agency for Environmental Protection ceasing the activity at the unit.