Bucharest three landfills left without environmental permits

All three garbage dumps in Bucharest are left without an environmental permits, according to Save the Romania (USR). The Vidra and Glina landfills have already been out of the law for a long time, and the Iridex warehouse’s permit expired in early November.

USR has asked the Bucharest City Hall to adopt a coherent waste management plan, Romanian media reported. According to USR representatives, some of the landfills are almost full and the municipality local authorities haven’t come up with solutions to increase recycling, to develop waste sorting capacities and plan future landfills. Instead, the municipality has been talking about incinerating the waste.

As many as 97% of Romania’s household waste ends up in landfills.

At present, Romania uses the method of storing the waste collected, a method used for decades that has a crucial negative impact on the environment. “Romania is the only country in the European Union that encourages landfills. At present, the infringement procedure for miscarrying the reducing of stored waste by 50 percent by 2020 cannot be avoided,” stated Romanian Coalition for Circular Economy.

Romania faces one of its most challenging environmental issues as it risks the infringement procedures for failing to reduce its stored waste by 50 percent by 2020. It is liable for penalties up to EUR 200,000 daily starting in 2021, if the targets imposed by the European Commission are not achieved, reported Business Review site.

The European Commission also took Romania to the Court of Justice of the EU earlier this year for failing to review and adopt its national waste management plan and waste prevention program, in line with the objectives of EU Waste Framework Directive (Directive 2008/98/EC) and the circular economy, states another of EC.