Green Environment Support: Romania can achieve a recycling advance of up to 80% in the coming years, through the implementation and operation of the Guarantee-Return System (SGR)

Romania can achieve a recycling advance of up to 80% in the coming years, through the implementation and operation of the Guarantee-Return System (SGR) function, thus reaching the targets set by the European Union and becoming a leader in the circular economy in Central and Eastern Europe, according to an analysis by Green Environment Support, one of the leading environmental audit and consulting companies on the local market.

Through the Guarantee-Return System, Romania will collect 7 billion packages annually, thus placing 2nd after Germany in the collection of packages, according to the data announced by the Ministry of the Environment. At the same time, Romania will collect and can recycle 3.5 times more packaging than Slovakia, for example, which has to collect and recycle approximately 2 million packaging per year, according to RetuRO data.

“România este încă departe de obiectivele stabilite la nivelul Uniunii Europene și de media europeană și ne lipsesc și statisticile actualizate, nivelul de reciclare fiind de aproximativ 11%-12% din deșeurile municipale, comparativ cu aproape 50% care este media europeană. Însă, prin proiectul SGR, România are capacitatea să recicleze o cantitate mult mai mare de deșeuri în următorii ani și astfel să obțină un avans de reciclare cu până la 80%, devenind un reper al economiei circulare și un model în acest sens în Europa Centrală și de Est”, declară Daniela Dobre, CEO Green Environment Support.

"Romania is still far from the objectives set at the level of the European Union and the European average, and we also lack updated statistics, the recycling level being approximately 11%-12% of municipal waste, compared to almost 50% which is the European average. However, through the SGR project, Romania has the capacity to recycle a much larger amount of waste in the coming years and thus achieve a recycling advance of up to 80%, becoming a landmark of the circular economy and a model in this sense in Central Europe and from the East", says Daniela Dobre, CEO of Green Environment Support.

According to EU objectives, Romania must reach by 2026 the SGR packaging collection and return target for manufacturers of 85% for glass packaging, 90% for plastic and 90% for metal. Regarding the circular economy, Romania is only at the beginning of the transition from a linear economy to a circular one. Currently, the Romanian economy is circular in proportion to only 1.3%, according to World Bank data.

The SGR project targets 80,000 beverage retailers, who must implement facilities to collect the 7 billion containers. In the process of implementing the SGR requirements, traders have had a number of uncertainties regarding the whole procedure, and small traders face the lack of a collection space.

"In general, manufacturers, importers and large retailers have proactively taken a series of measures to make this implementation easier. If we discuss, however, the small businesses impacted, the situation is different - there are companies that have not yet registered on the RetuRO platform or/and have not signed the contracts. Regarding the logistical organization of each merchant, we face the challenge of finding the space that will have to be allocated for the collection of returned packaging or the investments necessary for the purchase of RVMs. We, at Green Environment Support, assist economic operators and offer the necessary advice and recommendations to effectively implement the SGR project. Around 25%-30% of the companies we collaborate with are covered by this obligation, being HoReCa companies, retail and beverage manufacturers, and importers. Apart from them, we also offered support to other economic companies that wanted consultancy in the implementation phase", explains Daniela Dobre, CEO of Green Environment Support.

Those who have the obligation to apply the legal provisions and to register in the SGR system are the producers, importers and traders of beverages packed in non-reusable glass, metal or plastic containers, with a capacity between 0.1 and 3 liters, used for beer, beer mixes , alcoholic beverage mixes, cider, other fermented beverages, juices, nectars, soft drinks and drinking waters of all kinds, wines, and spirits. They can be returned intact to recover the guarantee of 50 money per package.

Romania is the 11th country in Europe to implement an SGR type system, after Norway, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Iceland, Estonia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Latvia and Lithuania.

The information provided by KomuniK