RSS
Environment Minister: 16 illegal waste shipments from Germany, Austria and Hungary, stopped at border
The Romanian authorities have managed to stop at the border 16 illegal waste shipments from Germany, Austria and Hungary, which should have reached several companies in Romania, Environment Minister Cristiana Pasca Palmer said on Monday.
"It is a success of the authorities, because we have managed to stop 16 shipments, not from Italy, but from Germany, Austria and Hungary, most of them from Germany. It was a surprise to us. There have been 16 shipments, approximately 300 tonnes of illegal waste attempted to be introduced in Romania, under the green waste code, recyclable waste, but in fact through a very good collaboration that we requested between the National Environmental Guard and the customs authorities, the shipments have been stopped, checked and found that, in fact, those pellets included something that was not in the documents," Palmer told Digi FM broadcaster.
She pointed out that these shipments should have reached a few Romanian economic operators, but refused to nominate them.
"[They should have reached] various areas of Romania, mostly in the south-east, but round 40 percent of the waste was supposed to go to one single operator. We sent the Guard for a control there, irregularities were found and a pattern of this action, therefore we requested a criminal investigation," the minister said.
Palmer admitted that it is an illegal business with ramifications all over Europe.
"The Romanian legislation allows waste imports, but strictly the imports of waste that can be recycled. The Romanian or the European legislation doesn't allow the import of a type of waste for elimination, namely for storage at the landfill. In this case, waste that reached the landfill was imported under the pretence that it is recyclable waste," she added.
At the same time, the Environment Minister also said that these shipments included hazardous waste.
"In some cases, there was also hazardous waste. It wasn't clean waste, but a mix of recyclable waste and other types of waste. My colleagues said that when the lorries were opened, there was an unbreathable pungent smell, and you realise that all these items would have reached a landfill, and we are anyhow overcome by the landfill situation," Cristiana Pasca Palmer maintained.