Romania’s deposit-return scheme: Environment agency finds several irregularities, issues over 500 fines

The National Environmental Guard issued over 500 fines worth roughly RON 2.76 million (some EUR 556,000) following controls targeting the Deposit-Return System - SGR.

The Environmental Guard inspectors, with the support of the Consumer Protection Agency, carried out more than 3,600 controls between July 5 and August 5 to verify the implementation and operation of the deposit-return scheme at stores that sell SGR products and the SGR Administrator.

A total of 293 warnings and 129 fines worth RON 1.45 million were issued for irregularities related to the SGR implementation, the Environmental Guard announced. Also, 25 warnings and 88 fines worth roughly RON 1.31 million were applied for non-compliance with environmental protection and waste management regulations.

Regarding SGR regulations, environment agency inspectors issued fines for violations related to: the obligation to use the computer program made available by the SGR administrator for packaging reporting; the obligation to conclude contracts with the SGR Administrator; the obligation to set up return points for SGR packaging; the obligation to exclusively allow the SGR administrator to take over the SGR packages from the return points; the obligation to register in the database managed by the SGR Administrator; and the obligation of merchants to keep records of the total number of products sold in SGR packaging.

“At the same time, because it failed to ensure the collection of SGR packaging from the return points with a frequency and in a manner that would not disrupt the smooth functioning of the merchants, the SGR Administrator was fined RON 8,000,” the Environmental Guard said.

Andrei Corlan, general commissioner of the Environmental Guard, commented: “The control action that we carried out for a month is an on-site x-ray of what it means to implement the Deposit-Return System and represents a new stage in improving this system. In the next two months, the National Environmental Guard will monitor the effects of this control action and present the data obtained to optimize the SGR circuit.”

Environment minister Mircea Fechet recently stated that the Deposit-Return System “works as expected,” noting that the collection rate of recyclable packaging is rising constantly. He also mentioned, however, that certain things still need to be improved regarding this system, especially at the collection points.

(Photo source: Facebook/Garda Naţională de Mediu)