Clean Recycle analysis – what’s next for the packaging waste market in 2023

Bucharest, April 28, 2023 – Less than 10% of the total of approximately 4,000 existing collectors of active packaging waste in Romania managed to pay the guarantee of 500 thousand lei to the state, following some legislative changes that came into force at the beginning of the year, according to the analyzed figures by Clean Recycle. According to GEO no. 125/2022, from January 1, 2023, collectors are required to provide this guarantee, in the form of a cash deposit or a letter of bank guarantee.

Thus, only the collectors who have complied with the law can continue to conclude contracts with the OIREPs** in Romania, which ensure the taking over of the extended responsibility of the companies. The measure was taken by the authorities to prevent certain blockages in the event of possible cases of fraud, but it could have a significant impact on the budget of economic operators in Romania, who put packaging waste on the market (the amount of the guarantees being further transferred from the collectors to final customers, in the context where the competition becomes less, and the demand still remains high).

Also, the situation could generate major blockages regarding the management of packaging waste, considering the environmental responsibility of those who put packaging and packaging waste on the market and the limited number of collection companies that have managed to pay the imposed guarantees.

Packaging waste will be reported as recovered only after its actual recycling

GEO125/2022 of the Minister of the Environment, brings a major impact on the costs of economic operators, but also of OIREPs. Previously, the quantities of packaging waste were reported to the environmental authorities as being recovered at the time of entrustment for recycling/recovery, but nowadays it is desired that they be included in the reports only after they are actually recycled.

“The recycling and valorization objectives that fall to the packaging waste generators, and whose fulfillment we assume by contract, are annual. Following this change, we expect to encounter situations where, although significant amounts of packaging waste will be collected separately and handed over to the recycler, it will not be able to be reported as actually recycled until the recycling process is complete. Concretely, important quantities collected and handed over to recyclers in the last part of the year, could enter the recycling process after January 1 of the following year. Also, the rules for applying this ordinance are not clearly determined in the law”, declares Cosmin Monda, founder and CEO of Clean Recycle.

Progressive reduction of single-use plastic quantities placed on the market

Starting from January 1, 2023, economic operators have the obligation to reduce the amount of single-use plastic placed on the market, compared to the previous year, by 5% until December, by 10% in 2024, by 15% in 2025 and by 20% in 2026. At the same time, they must report these figures to the Administration for the Environmental Fund.

Also, until 2029, the environmental target imposed for the collection of single-use plastic products is 90%. This year, the recovery and recycling objectives for all types of packaging waste have also increased:

• Paper/Cardboard: from 60% to 65%;
• Plastic: from 22.5% to 35% (PET – 57%);
• Glass: from 60 to 65%;
• Ferrous metals: from 50% to 60%;
• Aluminum: from 20% to 30%;
• Wood: from 15% to 20%.

Practically, all economic operators who introduce these types of waste on the market, through their own economic activity, have the obligation to collect separately and recycle or capitalize in the mentioned proportions the generated waste. At the moment, in Romania, the recycling targets are not reached – only in 2019, the recycling percentage was 44.6%***.

Clean Recycle is one of the biggest players on the local market of the transfer of responsibility for packaging waste (OIREP), taking over the reporting, collection and recovery of packaging and packaging waste placed on the market by manufacturers and importers. Clean Recycle manages a portfolio of over 700 companies that produce and market packaging waste, active throughout Romania, from fields such as FMCG and retail, agribusiness, automotive, distribution, industrial production, pharmaceuticals, etc.

* Order no. 578/2006 for the approval of the Methodology for calculating the contributions and taxes owed to the Environmental Fund

** OIREP = Organization that Implements the Obligations regarding the Extended Liability of the Producer

*** Eurostat