Environment ministry funding waste management

The Ministry of Environment, Waters and Forests is utilizing a financing line of RON 100 million (EUR 22.3 million) for waste management, and EUR 6.7 million for education and awareness. The aim is to reach Romania’s recycling target for 2020 – 50% of the total municipal waste generated, minister Cristiana Pașca Palmer said at the Local Public Administration Forum (FAPL), according to Agerpres’s republished on Stiripesurse.ro portal.

The funds will be used for prevention and repairs, reusing and recycling, and also to educate and grow awareness, said Pașca Palmer. Local authorities are also eligible for such financing, she added. In her opinion, Romania has moved at a snail’s pace in recycling, only managing to reach the level of 3% in nine and a half years.

This year, the national waste management plan is the ministry’s priority, Pașca Palmer said and added there was a lot of delay. It is the condition for the European Commission to release funds from the 2014–2020 Large Infrastructure Operational Programme (LIOP) for Romania, she stressed.

According to her, the central government and, especially, local authorities should take measures to encourage recycling at the source, to implement collection on scheduled days, based on the type of waste, and prioritize the hierarchy of waste.