Romanian reformist party Save Romania Union (USR) proposes a container deposit scheme (a small extra deposit on top of the price of the bottled or canned goods) as a solution for increasing the collection rate for packaging materials.

USR proposes a flat deposit of RON 0.5 or RON 1 irrespective of the type of container subject to the law, for simple implementation, Mediafax reported.

Allen Coliban, chairman of the Senate Environment Committee, and Cristian Ghinea, USR/Renew MEP, debated and presented a detailed public policy report on an effective national guarantee-deposit system for packaging.

"We undertake to work with the authorities so that we have a coherent project at the beginning of September, and the system becomes functional on January 1, 2021," said Coliban.

The Social Democrat Government led by former PM Viorica Dancila adopted an emergency ordinance in July 2018 that aimed to introduce a RON 0.5 deposit for reusable packaging, starting March 2019. However, the regulation was not implemented due to the lack of guidelines.

editor@romania-insider.com

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