Romanian Senate concerned about the legal framework and the situation regarding the management of waste electric and elelectronic equipment

On October the 18th 2011, the Commission for Environment and Spatial Planning of the Romanian Senate organized a round table on the transposition of the waste electric and electronic (WEEE) Directive (2002/96/CE) and its impact on the society and business environment

December 2011 - From the Print Edition

The meeting enjoyed the participation of the Minister of Environment, President of the Senate, Presidents of the Commissions for Environment and Spatial Planning from the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, senators, deputies, representatives of the household appliance and recycling industry. It was organized at the initiative of the Senate’s Commission which considers that the Romanian Parliament should be involved in the waste management thematic. This involvement is particularly necessary because the legal framework on WEEE was established through a Governmental Decision (1037/2010), bypassing the parliamentary debate and it transfers unrealistic collection targets exclusively to the producers of electric and electronic equipment imposing penalties that may lead to the suspension of their activities. The existing legal framework may also lead to regulations imposing financial penalties for the industry which may reach 20 million Euro.
After the official opening of the meeting, Mr. Catalin Gurau, the director of the Association of the European Household Equipment Manufacturers in Romania – CECED Romania had a presentation regarding the current problems of the industry and the difficulties of the WEEE management process.
Thus, the main weak points of the existing Romanian legal framework were presented. These are related to collection, treatment monitoring of the WEEE flows and the registration of the producers.

The Governmental Decision 1037/2010 establishes only apparent responsibilities for the local authorities regarding the collection of the WEEE from the households.
In reality there are no specific requirements regarding the performance of the collection activity.
Theoretically if the local authorities establish collection points with zero performance as regards the collected quantities, they are exonerated from any responsibilities. The Governmental Decision 1037/2010 has no provisions regarding the identification and sanctioning of the illegal collection of WEEE either.
Additionally the responsibility for the collection target was entirely transferred to the producers of electric and electronic equipment and their collective organizations under the threat of the suspension of the activity.
As regards treatment, the GD 1037/2010 includes penalties only for the authorized recycling companies. There are no provisions for the illegal treatment of the WEEE. We are therefore in the absurd situation in which the illegal dismantling of WEEE can be penalized only by applying the provisions of the framework law on environment, with a fine starting from 5000 lei and no consequences on the activity, while missing the recovery target by 0,5% by the authorized operators (e.g: achievement of 79,5% recovery rate instead of 80%) in penalized with a fine between 40 000 and 50 000 lei and a temporary suspension of the activity.
The GD 1037/2010 no longer includes penalties for the producers which are not registered which may have the following consequences:
- increase the unfair competition between producers who are fulfilling their financial obligations regarding the WEEE management and the producers who avoid this.
- lack of financial resources for the management of WEEE.
Mr. Liviu Popeneciu, the president director general of the Romanian Association for Recycling – RoRec, the industry’s collective system for WEEE management, presented the main difficulties regarding the collection and recycling.
He explained that a major problem for a normal functioning of the system is the illegal collection of WEEE, especially of the white goods (refrigerators, cookers, washing machines) as scrap metal by unauthorized operators. These are further recorded, traded and treated as scrap metal not as WEEE which contributes to the release of hazardous substances in the environment (eg: CFC’s from old fridges).
The fact that they are not registered and monitored means that they are not taken into consideration as quantities collected and treated. This situation, corroborated with the stoppage of the programs for the stimulation of the one to one exchange (programs based on the necessity of a better waste management and the benefits related to the energy efficiency) lead to a sharp decrease of the quantities collected and treated through the channels of the producers. If the current situation continues unchanged and the authorities are not increasing the efforts to combat illegal collection and treatment and to improve the legal framework in order to include clear responsibilities regarding performance and reporting for the local authorities and other actors, it is unlikely that the national collection target of 4 kg/inhabitant and year will be reached.
Taking into account the existing and predictable future legal framework this may expose the producers to arbitrary penalties up to 20 million Euro.
An additional risk of the illegal exportation of WEEE as scrap metal is the violation of the provisions of the Basel Convention on transboundary movement of hazardous waste (ratified by Romania through the Law 6 from 1991).
The Minister of Environment and Forest, Mr. László Borbély promised that he will invite the representatives of the industry for a discussion regarding the improvement of the legal framework. He also promised that he will investigate the measures taken by the authorities to combat illegal collection, dismantling and export of waste and will communicate the results to the participants.
Mr. Marius Costache, the general manager of Green WEEE Buzau (the biggest Romanian WEEE recycler) endorsed the statements of the previous speakers regarding the negative role of the illegal collection and dismantling confirming the urgent need for action.