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EC is taking Romania to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to review and adopt its national waste management plan
The European Commission is taking Romania to the Court of Justice of the EU for failing to review and adopt its national waste management plan and waste prevention programme, in line with the objectives of EU Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC) and the circular economy.
In a press statement released on Thursday, the European Commission says that despite earlier warnings from the commission, the Romanian authorities have failed to review and update their national waste management plan and waste prevention programme. This revision should have taken place at the latest by 2013. The Commission initiated the infringement procedure in September 2015 and sent a reasoned opinion to Romania in May 2016, urging the authorities to promptly adopt these core instruments required by the waste legislation.
Romania is one of the most underperforming member state in terms of managing municipal solid waste, with the highest landfilling rate of 72 percent, far above the EU average of 25.6 percent, in 2015.
The Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC) aims to protect the environment and human health by preventing or reducing the adverse impacts of the generation and management of waste and by reducing overall impacts of resource use and improving the efficiency of such use. Under the directive, member states had to adopt national waste management plans by December 12, 2010, and waste prevention programmes by 12 December 2013.
Member states have to re-evaluate their waste management plans at least every six years and revise them as appropriate.
On April 10, Environmental Minister Gratiela Gavrilescu said Romania had to address 10 infringement procedures on environmental issues, mostly related to waste management. "It's been just a few days since I took office [at the Ministry of Environment]. In my previous term in 2014, we had 29 infringement measures against Romania to handle. Of these, at office handover in December 2015, no less than 19 infringement procedures had been settled. Now we still have 10, mostly related to waste, and my role both as a minister and as a Ministry of Environment and Government employee, is to make sure that by 2020 we have an as high as possible recycling percentage. In 2050 we must produce zero waste. I asked the Environment Fund Administration to present everything that means waste management programs, beginning with population awareness to selective collection methods, programs for mayoralties to access, so that we may be able to reduce landfill waste to the maximum," said Gavrilescu.