Official Laszlo Borbely: Romania is falling behind Europe in terms of municipal waste recycling
The coordinator of the Department for Sustainable Development of Romania's Government, Laszlo Borbely said on Thursday, at the inauguration of the PET Recycling Team Targu Mures plant, that such an investment is extremely useful, especially since Romania is falling behind Europe in terms of municipal waste recycling, with only 11.3pct compared to the European Union average of over 40pct.
"I will tell you two data which prove that an investment like this is much more useful for our county, as I said, for the sustainable development of the area and of Romania. Unfortunately, Romania is falling behind Europe in terms of municipal waste recycling, 11.3pct is currently recycled, while the European Union average is over 40pct and we should quickly reach 50pct. And if we talk about the fact that we have coordinated the circular economy strategy, if we talk about materials that are recycled, Romania is at 1.4pct and the European Union average is 12pct. Thus, here are two figures which show the usefulness of this investment. I congratulate the investors because we need such plants, such investments," Laszlo Borbely said.
The Vice President of the National Agency for Environmental Protection, Adrian Bidu, attending the inauguration of the PET Recycling Team Targu Mures plant, told the press that he wants as many PET recycling plants as possible in Romania, as there are in Targu Mures and Buzau, but that so far, there have been no other requests.
"Such a plant means a lot: 18,000 tons of PET recycling means a lot and I really wish for more recycling plants in Romania. We all want to see no more PET thrown away or deposited and dumped on all the abandoned lands. In Romania we have several requests for information on the CAEN, namely for recycling, but, for the moment, no final regulatory act has been requested, because without a regulatory act one cannot carry out an activity from an environmental protection point of view," Adrian Bidu underscored.
The partnership made up of Alpla Group (Austria), Ecohelp SRL (Romania) and United Polymer Trading (Switzerland) inaugurated the PET Recycling Team plant on Thursday, in Targu Mures, built as a result of an investment worth 7.5 million EUR, which will deliver 18,000 tons of recycled plastic per year.